Midnight
by Point of Reason
Summary: What is midnight but the blackest time of day? Sequel to Moonrise, read that first. Complete. Over 9,500 hits.
1. P R E F A C E

**HI!!!!**

**No, I just could not contain my creative genius and I wrote the preface. Forgive me, but I am not yet done the first chapter. I _might_ finish it later today, but maybe not. I'll see what I can do. :) It has to be amazing, you know? To kick off the whole story? So I'm gonna go work on that now and leave you all with a teaser. :P**

**AND HOORAY FOR THE KICK OFF TO MIDNIGHT!!! Are you as excited as I am? ...Probably not, but... haha! Enjoyyyyy!**

**--Mel**

P R E F A C E

The woman – if you could call her that – that stood in front of me was the very epitome of everything that I had come to hate. Not only was she a murderer, but she thoroughly enjoyed it. She wasn't like the rest of our kind, she didn't kill because she needed to, she killed because she _wanted_ to. She got off on the exhilaration, on the feel of the warm blood gushing over her sadistic hands. She stared at me from across the little room, panting hard. I wasn't sure why she was panting so hard; it wasn't as though she needed to breathe. Perhaps it was for effect. After all, she had raced against time and bent over backwards to get here when she said she would be here.

Her black eyes took in my carefully composed face and her red lips twisted to one side and her breathing came slower. She straightened her posture and flipped her long black curls over her shoulder. As much as I wanted to hate this woman, I simply could not force myself to do it. I wasn't sure why, as she was the quintessence of Hell, itself. Perhaps it was because she had wormed her way into my life long before I knew of her intentions here. If anything, I thought, that should make me hate her _more._ But I simply could not bring myself to the loathing that the creature before me deserved.

A single tear leaked out of my left eye as the click of her high-heeled boots alerted my subconscious mind that she was coming in for the kill.


	2. I N S T I N C T S

**Okay, who do you love?**

**Who else is so addicted to their own story that they can write a whole chapter in less than three hours for you guys?**

**ONLY ME!**

**And you know that, love that, and respect that.**

**So for this chapter, there's a little sexual reference, but I did NOT make them actually have sex. I don't want my story to become one of the generic "They shared a night full of love and passion" kinds of stories, but it's most definitely not some erotic novely type thing, so I'm not going to write a sex scene. I prefer the innocent Bella and Edward relationship. Maybe it's just me, but whatever. It's my story. So buzz off. **

**:-P**

**SO, we'll start the soundtrack.**

**The song for this chapter just so happens to be Don't Panic by Coldplay.**

**And thanks for the reviews! Already! They're exciting. Especially _"I will not write anything more, my fingers are  
too giggly with a frenzied excitement to continue."_ LOL, that made me laugh.**

**So THANKS lovelyxangel, Bella-and-Edward-forever22, Monkey-en-TuTu, and Edward-Addiction. You make me super happy!**

**On with the chapter!**

1. I N S T I N C T S

If it were possible for me to go to heaven, I would have sworn I'd died and gone to it. The days and nights flowed together, and I was never quite sure of the exact date. But who needed to know the date? I certainly didn't care. My life was above and beyond perfect. Flawlessly circulating between cloudy days and pitch-black nights. I sighed happily into Edward's chest. No, I confirmed with myself, it didn't get any better than this.

"Something wrong, my love?" His melodious voice rang in my ears.

Wrong? What could be wrong? Everything was so… so… _right._ Too right. Too right for _my_ life. Something was _bound_ to go wrong. But I shook my head and smiled contentedly up at my husband's shining topaz eyes.

The days that had followed the wedding had been the mere beginning of the unadulterated bliss that now warmed even the coldest corner of my heart. Alice had bid us farewell with a rather insinuating expression as we boarded a plane to Ireland for our honeymoon. I hadn't expected anything to happen. Not until, that is, a tiny little voice in the back of my mind started reciting again and again that something _was_ going to happen. It was obvious that something was; why hadn't I seen it before? After all, we were married now, and I was a vampire so there'd be no risk of getting hurt… I began to grow nervous. Edward noticed me squirming in my seat and asked me time after time if I was all right. By the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was thinking I was going to lose control of my instincts, surrounded by so many humans. I assured him that I was fine and tried to calm myself down.

It wasn't that I didn't _want_ to do… things of… that nature… It wasn't that at all. But I had no clue what I was doing! There are only so many "instincts" I could lose control to. I had been anxious right up until we landed.

It was cloudy and the air smelled of damp earth and recent rain. It smelled exactly like Forks. The memory of home brought a smile to my face, and Edward beamed back at me, glad to finally see that I was really all right. We were staying in the Markee Castle with a _huge_ suite. As we entered the room and set our bags down, the first thing my eyes landed on was the king-size bed sitting in the middle of the room. Edward noticed that I'd stopped in the doorway and, after following my traumatized gaze, chuckled lightheartedly.

"Bella, Bella, Bella, what are you thinking?" He chanted, a mocking tone coloring his voice as he cocked an eyebrow.

I swallowed.

"Uh…" I started nervously. There was no way that I could have kept the tremor from shaking my voice, even if I'd tried.

To my surprise, Edward simply laughed at me. "Honestly, sweetheart, that's the last thing on my mind," he guaranteed me.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Ireland had been full of sightseeing during the day and holding each other close during the nights. The weather had stayed perfect all the way through our visit – always cloudy enough that no sun could shine through, but never down pouring when we were out and about – and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful time.

We left about a week after our arrival. We embarked on another thirteen-hour plane ride one morning, hand in hand, to return to the Cullens' house in Forks where we had spent every moment together, seemingly attached at the hip.

Back at the Cullens', the days and nights were long and lazy. If we weren't playing games, hunting, or chattering with the rest of the family, it was like this – Edward's long, strong arms wrapped around my tiny frame.

I inhaled his sweet scent and peeked up through my bush of hair to look at his godlike face. I would never get tired of looking at that face – never be able to stop myself from being mesmerized by it. It was becoming a tad unhealthy, actually.

We were in Edward's room, listening to one of his many CDs. I was only vaguely aware of the background music – I was too caught up in the melody of his lungs inhaling and exhaling rhythmically.

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

I sighed, suddenly unsure of whether or not I wanted to ask the question that I was about to. I wasn't sure why, seeing as it was a virtually harmless question, but something in my gut, my instincts, told me that it was something that I didn't want to know the answer to. At any rate, it was something that I didn't want to ask _Edward_ to answer for me.

Edward smiled down ant me, ruefully. "That's very bothersome, did you know?"

"What is?" I asked, genuinely bemused.

"When you stop mid-thought. For anyone else, I know exactly what it is they're thinking behind their words, but for you… I have to test my patience, and that's not something I'm at all used to. Even still, after so long."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, try having that kind of patience for everyone, every day of your life. We're not _all_ mind readers, Edward."

He chuckled softly. "I know. I thank God for that."

My curiosity sparked. "Why?"

What was he thinking about me that he wasn't telling me? Edward carefully composed his face before answering.

"Because… you don't need to hear all the things people think about you."

"People? Not _you?_"

"Bella, I tell you everything that's on my mind." I laughed and his face became stony. "I tell you everything that you need to know."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"That I love you."

"Yes, but I already _know_ that."

"Do you, now?" He teased.

"Yes."

"Well what else is there to know?"

I paused, and he took it as a sign of defeat. "Bella, if there's something I'm thinking about you, chances are you already know it. Trust me. It's just… there are other people that think other things that I don't really find appropriate for a young lady to hear."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Edward, I'm twenty-nine!" I cried, growing impatient with him.

"Bella…"

"What?" I snapped.

"Were you going to ask me something?"

Immediately I shut down. My jaw closed and I swallowed unnecessarily. But the contraction of muscle had a soothing effect on me, for some reason.

"No."

"You were. What were you going to ask?"

It took every bit of strength I had in me to turn away from his beautiful honey colored eyes and will myself against that brainwashing power that seemed to effect me. I felt his hand move itself to my jaw and he turned my chin towards his face. Curse those eyes!

"What were you going to ask me?" He pressured.

It was time to take drastic measures in avoiding this topic of conversation. "That's not fair," I complained.

"What's not?" He asked, but his lips twitched upward at one side, telling me he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"You're trying to dazzle me!"

The crooked grin could not stop itself from stretching across his face, and I relished in the fact that I had put it there.

"Is it working?" He questioned, still grinning.

"Unfortunately," I sighed.

"Well, good." He ducked his head down and met my lips with his.

Oh, to Hell with it! "I was going to ask you why Jacob's been so… uptight lately."

It seemed that my gut had been right. Edward's grin slipped straight off his face and his eyes became rather serious. He looked at me somberly for a while before answering.

"What do you mean?" He asked through clenched teeth.

I chose my wording very carefully. "Well, it doesn't take a genius to see that he's been on edge… and… I asked Jasper and he told me that he's been very tense, lately."

Edward was silent and he looked at something over my right ear for a moment before he let his eyes slip back to mine.

"If it's not something Jacob has told you about personally, it's not something you need to worry about," was his answer.

I gaped at him wordlessly for a moment. What did he mean? Had Jacob told him, or was he just getting this from his thoughts? Was it something to do with me? Was that why I wasn't allowed to know?

"Edward Cullen. That is not an answer."

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes smoldering, trying to get me off topic or dazzle me again or something. But I was in a different mindset now. What was up with Jacob?

I continued to glare at Edward for what seemed like forever, and finally, he caved.

"Oh, alright. But we're not supposed to know. It's something he confided in Carlisle, and we're not to pass it around the household."

I nodded in curious agreement.

"Well. It seems that… that once Billy Black had found out that Jacob returned, he disclosed that information with a certain Sam Uley. And now, when Jacob is in wolf form, Sam has been calling to Jacob" – I felt my jaw drop, but did nothing to close it – "and has been asking him to return to the pack. This means that not only is there a pack, but that Jacob is being torn in two. His werewolf loyalties are calling, and his loyalty to… you," he finished.

I couldn't believe it. That God forsaken Sam Uley was _still_ messing up my life, eleven years later.

"Which loyalties are winning?"

Edward's face was somber. "The ones that lie with you. But the call of his former kind is greatly tempting to him."

It was unnerving to think that I could lose Jacob to Sam _again._ Even after all this time, all the experiences we'd had in the last month, Sam still threatened my friendship with Jake. I shuddered at the memory of last month – of how close I'd gotten to my own demise. That danger was not yet passed, either. It would only be a matter of time now until the Volturi and the Reddings realized that their treasured members were dead. No, it would not be long now.

Instead of allowing myself to linger on the horrors of the recent past, however, I simply turned my head and let it rest on Edward's chest again. I let the rhythm of his breathing soothe me and I soon reached a stupor that was close to sleep. Well, as close to sleep as I could get – unthinking, unaware, eyes closed…

It was lying there, on Edward's black leather sofa, that everything changed so suddenly.

One moment, I was perfectly contented listening to the steady inhale and exhale of his lungs, and the next I felt as if I was about to retch from the pungent smell that made my eyes sting.

It felt as though the tiny hairs inside of my nose were curling from the reeking stench. I had no idea what it could possibly be, but I knew that I'd never smelled anything quite so horrid. It felt like my dead organs were churning with the natural desire to vomit. I opened my tearing eyes to look at Edward and see if the disgusting odor had affected him the same way. It seemed as though he could smell it, but it was not to the same power that I could. I felt like I might start convulsing – dry heaving – something, anything, to make the smell stop.

Edward's eyes were tight; he leapt up from under me and went to look out his window, his eyes darting from left to right.

"Wha- what _is_ tha-" I started, but he cut me off.

"Werewolf. A young one. A _very_ young one."

So it wasn't Jacob. It wasn't Sam. It was a member of the new pack. And its stench was emanating through the thick glass window all the way up to the third floor of the Cullens' house.

The smell lingered for what seemed like hours, and just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, it left. Just as quickly as it had come, the odor disappeared.

I gasped, gulping in the fresh air as if I'd never breathe again.

"What was a werewolf doing here?" I asked when I could control my breathing.

Edward turned to look at me with a disturbed expression on his face.

"I don't know."

There was a moment of silence, followed by the banging open of Edward's bedroom door. Alice, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Carlisle, and Esme all came bursting through the small doorframe at once. Edward's room didn't seem quite so big, all of a sudden.

"Did you smell it?" Emmett asked, grimacing. He was rubbing his knuckles – a look of pure poison in his eyes.

"Yes, we smelled it."

"Did you _see_ it?" Carlisle asked, seemingly concerned. This, more than anything, was disconcerting. Carlisle almost never dropped his calm, cool manner.

"No, I didn't. But it was young. _Really _young. It smelled only a few hours old."

I didn't seem to understand the full complexity of this problem. All the vampires in the room looked absolutely venomous. The most terrifying I had ever seen them. It was then, thinking about the family, that I realized Jacob was the only one not in the room.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked, frantically.

Realization broke like dawn across Alice's face. "He's out hunting!" She cried, genuine worry distorting her features.

Her words were still ringing in my head as I raced down the stairs and to the front door. I was halfway across the lawn – headed toward the woods – that someone grabbed me around my waist and threw me over their shoulder. Suddenly I was retreating back the house, in the opposite direction of the woods.

"No!" I screamed at the top of my inhuman lungs. "Jacob!"

"Bella, please! Keep your voice _down!_ The last thing we need to do is go out looking for Jacob!"

"The werewolves!" I tried desperately to make Edward understand. "We can't let them get him!"

There was double meaning to my words. I was sure that if the werewolves found Jacob, the first thing they'd ask would be for him to join them. And even if he _did_ refuse, they'd gang up on him – tear him limb from limb. The thought sent me into another fit of hysteria and I screamed some more before we were finally in the house.

"Bella, please! Jacob's a big boy, he can take care of himself," Edward tried to convince me. But I could hear the note of panic behind his voice, too.

I tried to calm myself down a bit – to use a softer voice and breathe normally. When I finally _did_ get to that state, Edward held me tightly.

"Your friend will be fine, I'm sure. Do you want to ask Alice?"

"She can't see werewolves," I reminded him.

"Yes… but, perhaps she could see if we will be content in the next twenty-four hours?"

"Perhaps."

"Alice!"

In a mere instant, Alice was by my side.

"Bella! Are you all right?" When I nodded, she took a different approach. "Honestly, Bella, are you suicidal? 'Oh, let's just go running after baby werewolves I don't know!' Bella, what were you thinking?"

I ignored her mocking and got straight to the point. "What's going to happen?"

"I can't see were-"

"Just look a day ahead, Alice!"

Her eyes widened in astonishment at my frantic tone, but she obliged.

"Oh… oh… _no_," she whispered.

"Alice? Alice?! What is it? What's going to happen Alice? Will Jake be all right? Will he be with us?" My tone crept up to hysteria again as Alice shook herself out of her vision.

Her expression scared me the most. Her eyes were wide with worry, her face deeply etched in concern. I looked to Edward and his face was a mirror of her tormented expression. My eyes flashed back to her.

"What is it, Alice?"

Her eyes met mine with true fear swimming around in her limpid irises. The word she uttered next was not one I had expected – not one I had anticipated – but it hurt me all the same.

"Charlie."


	3. V I S I O N S

**Hello, loyal readers. **

**I would like to take this time to say... I HAVE FANS! Or groupies, or whichever. That's _really _exciting! For me at least. It's so awesome to get tidbits of your personality through your reviews. :)**

**Speaking of which... These reviews - they're awesome! Like, really. Nothing makes me happier than to come and see that I've got insert number here reviews telling me that you love me. You better be careful, though - you're giving me self-esteem. I've never had that before, and I'm not quite sure how to use it. ;) I do want to hear everything you're thinking, though. If you think I can do anything, _anything at all_ better, let me know and I will do my damnedest. **

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**This chapter was exeedingly difficult to write. I must say, there was _quite_ a lot of backspacing. But I'm finally, almost, semi-happy with it. XD Tell me what _you_ think. _You're_ the opinion that counts, here. ;)**

**The song for this chapter is Take Me Away by Avril Lavigne.**

**And now three... two... one... CHAPTER!**

2. V I S I O N S

I didn't react. I didn't know how. How was I supposed to react to the utter terror that colored Alice's beautiful face? How was I supposed to relate it to Charlie? The worst I could assume was… but no. I couldn't let my mind travel there because that was not what had happened. There was no way on earth… Charlie… my father… he couldn't be… _dead._ Jacob was forgotten. Edward was right; he was mature. He could fend for himself. Charlie, on the other hand… what was happening to him? What was happening to my poor father? I wanted desperately to know, but my voice was at a loss.

I just stared at Alice's butterscotch eyes for what seemed like hours. I stared at her without blinking, without crying, and without really looking at her. There was no emotion on my face because I still didn't know how I was supposed to react. I waited for her to explain, for Alice to go into detail about what her vision had been about. Edward wrapped an arm around me, but I didn't really feel it. I only witnessed it. I still gazed unblinkingly at Alice, who stared right back with the same fear in her eyes.

At some point, I realized my mouth was open. The moment I felt that it was hanging open – making me look like a vegetable, no doubt – I snapped my jaw up. I swallowed, unnecessarily, and cleared my throat, finally seeming to have found my voice.

"Uhm, wha… what did you see?" My voice sounded distant and small. It didn't sound like mine at all. It was familiar, but I didn't know whose voice it actually was. The vulnerability in it triggered some distant memory, though. I remembered a time when it was _my_ voice that had been so vulnerable. So innocent. That vulnerability had been lost for a long time now.

Alice's eyes were shining with emotion, not making the sinking feeling in the pit of me feel any easier. When she spoke, her voice was as helpless and shaky as mine had been. "It… it doesn't look good, Bella."

I felt a black hole open up in the pit of my abdomen. I felt my heart sinking toward it, moving southward to my feet. The whirlwind that my internal organs were experiencing was making me feel nauseous. My head was spiraling downward into the black abyss that was sucking everything down. I felt my lips move and my vocal chords rumble, but I wasn't sure what I'd said. Alice seemed to know, though. She started explaining something to me that I couldn't comprehend. It was like I was trying to talk to someone while my head was under shallow water. I could feel the reverberations of their voice through the air, but I could not, for the life of me, understand what they were saying. Alice continued to talk, however, never mind that I couldn't understand her. Finally I caught one key, hopeless phrase: "There's not much time."

_There's not much time._

What in the hell were we doing standing here, accomplishing _nothing_ if there was still any kind of hope? What was wrong with Alice that she'd let me stand here with my eyes glued to hers for God knows how long when we could be rescuing my father from whatever horrid fate awaited him? Alice was still talking, but I turned away from her and raced out the door.

"Bella!" I heard Edward call, but there was no time to stop and explain. I ran for the garage, not realizing that I didn't have a key to a car until I was sitting in the driver's seat of Edward's shiny silver Volvo.

I cursed at myself before hurriedly flinging open the door to run back to the house and force the keys from Edward.

"Edward, give me your car keys." My voice was calmer, in control. I didn't know why I was behaving so calmly exteriorly when my insides were raging with panic, fury, sadness, and, above all, terror.

"Bella, we can't go there!" Alice was trying to talk me out of saving my father. What was wrong with her? She'd already let me waste enough time as it was, standing here staring blankly into her stupid golden eyes.

"SHUT UP!" I roared. I surprised myself with my intensity. I had never yelled at any of the Cullens, especially not Alice. She was, by far, my favorite of the rest of the family. My sister since before Edward had changed me. Alice looked quite shocked, as well. Her next words were meek in comparison to my bellow of rage.

"There's blood… a lot of blood…"

If she'd thought those words were supposed to convince me not to go to him, she was sorely mistaken.

"CARLISLE!" I bellowed into the rest of the house. He was by my side in an instant.

"Yes, Bella?"

"We have to go. Now. We have to go save Charlie."

The doctor's expression was bewildered to the highest capacity. "What's happened to Charlie?"

Alice's eyes were frantically flashing back and forth from my face to Carlisle's. "He's been attacked, Carlisle. I don't think we can save him. There's so much blood…" her voice broke on the last word.

Jasper joined us in the Cullens' living room. "What's going on?" he asked as he approached his wife, noticing her distress. Jasper began to rub her back comfortingly, and not long after this simple gesture did I feel the coat of tranquility that he sent me. I was too keyed up to fully feel the effect of the power. My mind was still racing and I could still feel the sinking feeling in my heart, my voice was just calmer when I spoke again.

"What's he been attacked by?" I asked, choosing to ignore Jasper's question.

"I- I can't tell," Alice stuttered, clearly also not as affected by Jasper's unusual power. "It looked like… like a vampire." Edward growled lowly next to me.

Carlisle simply nodded his head, and left the room. He returned not an instant later with his black bag of medical supplies. "Coming, Bella?" he asked me calmly. I was instantly on his heels, following. Edward was right behind me.

"You don't have to-" I started, but he held up a hand to tell me to stop.

"He's my father in-law. I'm coming with you."

I didn't know how much time had passed as we raced to the black Mercedes that I had become so accustomed to. Carlisle flung himself into the driver's seat, and Edward and I leapt into the backseat. As soon as the door was closed, Carlisle was flooring it, eager to get to the scene of the crime as quickly as possible.

The speedometer needle was somewhere around one hundred and twenty-five as the tires squealed onto my street. The declination of speed was steep, and I flew forward into my seatbelt. When Carlisle turned into Charlie's driveway, I knew something was terribly wrong.

The front door was wide open and broken off its hinges.

I was out of the car and racing towards the house before Carlisle had even fully stopped. Aside from the damaged front door, the house was in its usual condition. The front hall was completely intact, the wooden railing on the staircase wasn't broken… the only thing that told me that something was up was the smell of human blood that hit me with the force of a wrecking ball.

I groaned at the tantalizing, alluring odor it took. Sweet and sticky and _warm._ Warm? It was warm. Charlie was still alive. I had to keep my eye on the prize here, so I decidedly stopped breathing. As Edward and Carlisle entered the house behind me, I warned them to do the same.

"There's blood. Hold your breath."

Carlisle merely shrugged and whipped past me to go to Charlie's aid. Edward heeded my warning, however, and took a deep breath of the damp air outside before crossing the threshold.

I could hear the TV on. ESPN, as usual. Charlie had probably been settling down to watch the basketball game or the baseball game or whatever sport was on. He'd probably heated up some leftover pizza, preparing for a relaxing night after a day of fishing. Why would he have thought he'd be attacked? Why would he _be_ attacked? It was probably my fault. I'd created so many enemies for myself over the past month or so, and one of them had probably broken in and attacked. I felt the tears start to belatedly burn the back of my eyes.

I was still standing in the front hall. I wasn't sure if I wanted to cross that line into the living room to see what had happened to my innocent father. Edward's arm curled around my waist and he kissed my hair, comfortingly. But there was nothing he could do that would stop the image that I was about to see from haunting me for the rest of my existence.

I slowly made my way around the corner of the hall into the living room. The TV was showing a commercial for Budweiser light beer, and there was a plate with the remnants of burnt lasagna clinging to it. Charlie's body was on the floor in front of the couch, a puddle of deep, crimson red pooling from what used to be his face. I gasped and sank to my knees, unable to take a step further.

He was dead. He had to be. No one could look the way Charlie did right now and be alive. His right cheekbone was completely exposed, the flesh that once covered it dangling down around his ear. His nose was pushed to the side, completely broken, the cartilage giving it a bizarre, rubbery look. What was left of his white hair was dyed deep red from the amount of blood that was emanating from several large gashes in his scalp. I couldn't tell where his lips were – all I could see was his bloodstained teeth. It looked as though his lower lip had been torn straight off his face. He was wearing a flannel shirt that was now so drenched with blood that it would need to be wrung out. From what I could see, his eyes were still perfectly intact, but the buckets of blood that coated his once so handsome face obscured my vision.

Carlisle was bent over him, going straight to work wrapping his head wounds. It won't do any good, I thought to myself. He has to be dead. No one could have survived that pain. I wondered who could do such a thing? Who could rip someone's face apart with them shrieking in agony all the while? If it was a vampire, as Alice had said, it was once twisted freak. After opening the skin, it would have had to resist the bloodlust all the while it mutilated the poor man's face. No, this couldn't have been a vampire. But then… what _could_ it have been?

I couldn't keep staring. I had to look away. It didn't even look like _Charlie_ anymore. It was just a corpse. A lifeless, disfigured body. There was no way Charlie could have managed to survive something so ghastly. I stood, fully ready to run from the house that had once been my home, from the body that had once been my father. But when I turned I ran into Edward. He immediately wrapped his arms around me and I went into full-blown hysteria on his shoulder.

My sobs shook my entire body, relentlessly crashing into me one after the other. The tears that had not come at all at first now flowed through my eyes as if they were broken. Charlie… my father. Sure, we hadn't been the perfect match, but I loved him. And he'd loved me. It wasn't fair that he was being punished for something I'd done. It wasn't fair that his death had had to be so painful. He wasn't supposed to have a death of carnage and bloodshed. Charlie was a good man – he should have died peacefully, in his sleep, maybe. The wave of despair rose up over my head and was about to pull me under when Carlisle spoke up.

"There's still a chance…"

I broke away from Edward, controlling my sobbing enough to ask, "How?"

Carlisle had wrapped Charlie's whole face – save for a hole at his mouth for breathing purposes – in gauze wrap that was quickly being stained red. He had a cell phone next to his ear and was muttering something about an ambulance being needed as soon as possible at this address. When he snapped the little silver phone shut, he turned to look at me, somberly.

"This was no vampire."

For the second time today, I didn't know how to react. I simply stared at him, hoping he would continue without my needing to speak. He did.

"It was a werewolf."

I swallowed. Edward went rigid beside me, but remained calm as he asked, "A true werewolf?"

I frowned; hating that, even in this crisis Edwards suspicions immediately went to Jacob.

"It's hard to tell… Once one is in wolf form, they all smell alike, to me at least…" Carlisle answered, also frowning. Though, I did not know if his frown came from Edward's immediate doubt in Jacob or because he was lost in thought.

"But you say there's still a chance that he'll live?" I asked, my voice raspy from the hole of anguish that I had recently climbed out of.

"If the ambulance gets here soon, then yes. There is. He's lost a lot of blood, however. Bella… I can't promise anything, but the outlook looks slightly positive."

As if on cue, my acute hearing picked up the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.

"What's the story?" I asked, slightly cheered by the thought of Charlie pulling through this mauling.

Carlisle's frown became more pronounced as he searched for a half-decent excuse for the state of Charlie's face.

"I think attacked by a dog works as good as anything – we just need not mention what _kind_ of dog."

The sirens were getting louder as the ambulance neared the house, finally coming to a climax as it parked outside. A police car followed, shortly. Four men in white came into the house with a stretcher. Two hurriedly set up the stretcher while the other two lifted Charlie's lifeless form up and onto the small cot that would take him to the ambulance.

I let Edward lead me back to the Mercedes while Carlisle answered some mandatory questions for the police. I wondered; if Charlie _could_ pull through, would he want to? Would he want to live the rest of his life with a disfigured face? A werewolf attack didn't heal the same way as a regular dog attack. I shuddered, remembering Emily.

Emily. Sam. Sam was a werewolf. Sam wanted Jacob to come back to the pack. The only thing standing in his way was… _me._ Was this injury Sam's doing? Or was it one of the new pack's dirty work? Sam had mentioned that he would not kill me out of respect for Charlie and Billy's friendship… but he didn't say anything about another member of his phalanx. The gears were starting to work in my head when Carlisle graced us with his presence again, opening the driver's side door.

"Thank you," I said immediately.

Carlisle smiled sadly. "Don't thank me yet. I can't guarantee to you that he'll be all right. We can only hope, now."

I nodded. "But there wouldn't be any hope at all if you hadn't been so quick to help. Thank you, Carlisle. Really." I could feel my eyes were wide and swimming with tears, the lump in my throat swelling to a dangerously large circumference.

Carlisle started the car and drove back to his house at a third the speed we had come at.

It was only back at the Cullens' that I found my mind wandering back to Jacob. With all the talk of the werewolf attack that had just taken place, a lot of suspicion was placed on him with no actual evidence pointing to him.

When Carlisle told the family the news, not only Edward had prejudiced the blame to Jacob, but also Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and, to my surprise, Esme. It was only Alice and Carlisle who stood on my unbiased side.

"I'm telling you, he's been trouble from the start!" Emmett began to rant. "He's been manipulating us with his _puppet_ power ever since he got here!" Rosalie nodded fanatically in agreement.

"I agree, Bella. This does _not_ look good on Jacob's part," Esme said gently but firmly all the same.

"No! Jacob would never do that!" I argued, beginning to grow angry at the amount of pressure that they were putting on me. "Charlie was like a father to Jake."

"It doesn't matter who he was to him," Jasper pointed out. "Once he's in his wolf form, he's got no control over his actions. He could do anything to anyone."

"Including you, Bella." Edward finally put in his two cents. "It's dangerous to be around him anymore."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. All of them were ganging up on me – it simply wasn't fair. I was about to retaliate, but Alice beat me to it.

"Will you listen to yourselves?" she snapped. "We've been living with Jacob for almost a month and we've never had any problem with him. But now, as soon as there's evidence of a werewolf attack, all accusations immediately point to him! Why? There are other werewolves out there, now. Why, just this evening did we not smell a baby lurking outside our house? Who's to say that it wasn't _that_ one that attacked him? Hm?"

I smiled at Alice, warming up and forgiving her for earlier. No one seemed to know quite how to respond to that, so I continued. "I think we should just ask Jacob. I know him well enough to recognize his mannerisms, and if I think he looks guilty…" I let my voice trail. What _would_ I do if it had been Jake that attacked Charlie? I hadn't even put consideration to the possibility because I knew he hadn't. I decided it should stay that way.

"Bella's right. Before we go pointing any fingers, we must talk to Jacob first." It was Carlisle that spoke this time. I was grateful to have him on my side of the argument, seeing as he seemed to have the most influence on the family.

Emmett agreed, grudgingly. And Esme nodded slightly. Jasper just looked out the window, and Edward held me more tightly to his side. Rosalie rolled her eyes and looked at the floor. The silence that followed was deafening.

We were standing in the living room, anxiously awaiting Jacob's return from his hunt. This was yet another factor that had raised suspicion to him. He had chosen to hunt alone and he'd been gone all day long. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but I was positive that he had a perfectly good explanation.

It seemed like hours that we stood there, completely wrapped up in overwhelming thoughts. The light outside became paler as the sun rose. Jacob had still not returned.

It was around noon that day that he came through the front door.

"I'm back, guys!" he called through the house. Poor Jacob had no idea what was coming to him. He rounded the corner, the smile dropping almost instantly from his face as he saw the entire family waiting for him. His eyes were a golden-honey color – proof that he had really been hunting.

"What's… what's going on?" he asked, his eyes darting from face to face.

It looked as though he were facing a firing squad – all of the Cullens' expressions seemed to grow more and more somber as he went down the line, finally landing on Edward's mutinous expression. I nudged him with my elbow, glowering. He let his eyes flick to me, but his face stayed in the same heinous fixture.

Jacob finally looked at me, his eyes full of questions.

"Jacob," I started, my voice wavering with the weight of the conversation that was about to unfold, "today… Charlie was… attacked."

Jacob's face fell into darkness, a shadow eclipsing his content expression completely. "By who?" he growled.

I felt the entire Cullen family glare at him. If I could nudge them all in the ribs, I would have. "Well… that's what we're trying to figure out… you see… he was attacked by a… well… a…" my voice trailed off, again. I couldn't do it. I couldn't ask him if he'd attacked my father because I _knew_ that he hadn't. It felt like asking him would be like throwing the blame at him.

When he sensed that I wasn't going to finish, Emmett snarled, "He was attacked by a werewolf. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, mutt?"

The shadow across Jacob's face only darkened at the accusation. His eyes narrowed and his jaw grew tight. His hands immediately clenched into fists and his whole body shook slightly as he fought a tremor off. He was still looking at me when he started to speak again.

"You… think… that I would _ever_ lay even one finger on him?" His words came out through gritted teeth and he spoke slowly, so as not to lose control.

I shook my head back and forth fervently. Of course I didn't think he would, it was just the rest of them that had no faith in him.

"Well it wouldn't have to be a finger, would it? It would be one of your beastly paws!" Rosalie snapped.

I knew she'd gone to far. I'd known before she finished her sentence. Jacob let out a roar of frustration, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

"Jake…" I started, but Edward pulled me back, stepping between me and Jacob, who was on the verge of a transformation.

Jacob whirled around to face the family again, his whole body vibrating. "I would never _touch_ Charlie, do you understand? Never. In a thousand years."

"I know Jake! I know you love him, too!" I cried, stepping out from behind Edward. Jacob seemed to calm down very slightly – almost imperceptibly.

Throwing caution to the wind, I raced forward and threw my arms around Jacob's still shaking waist. At my touch, however, his body gave one last shudder before becoming completely still. His arms wrapped around me, then.

"How… how bad is it?" he asked.

I shook my head into his chest. "Bad. Oh, Jake, it was awful." I started to weep again into Jacob's warm shirt, and he stroked my hair, comfortingly. It was only then that I remembered that the entire Cullen family was watching this little display, and, as much as I wanted to continue crying into Jake's shirt, I pulled away.

"It wasn't Jake," I said forcefully. Emmett opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "It _wasn't_ Jake." The words came out in a menacing hiss, daring him to challenge me.

"Bella… no, Bella, no! BELLA, NO!" My neck snapped around to look at Alice. She was shaking uncontrollably, screaming, her eyes curiously blank. She was having a vision. A vision – by the sound of it – that strongly involved me.

"I'm here Alice, I'm right here. What do you see?" I took a seat next to her, on the opposite side that Jasper was on.

Alice turned her blank face in my direction, her eyes focused on something miles away. "It's going to kill you."


	4. J E A L O U S Y

**You guys freaking rock.**

**These reviews! They make my heart (as well as my head) swell up to twice its normal size like the Grinch, but mine wasn't two sizes to small to begin with, so now it's just abnormally large and swollen. XD**

**Seriously, they're _so_ encouraging! Especially the one that compares me to the great Stephenie herself! That's ego-boosting... And _very_ flattering. :)**

**Thank you, so very much, lovelyxangel, SIMPLY KIWI!, Monkey-en-TuTu, CammieSwan1785, ridiculouskopec, quietandclear, t3hg0d355, i.love.oreos, Hotaru89, b00kw0rm, Hello floor i'm bella, hotlipsb, and hellokittykisses! You make the chapters happen:)**

**So, this chapter has a _lot_ of important information that will be crucial to the rest of the story. _Very_ important information. So pay attention! XD**

**The song? Conspiracy by Paramore - and yes, it has a purpose.**

**And, so, without further ado, here is your chapter. (I wrote three pages on word, then I deleted it all and started from scratch, so you better appreciate! ;-P)**

3. J E A L O U S Y

It took a moment for what she said to sink in. She was still in the mindset of her vision when she'd told me that, and I was sure she wouldn't have said it if she hadn't been. But the fact of the matter was – she had. And I wasn't sure if I was scared or… ready. I'd known something was after me after the attack on Charlie. It was after me on a deeper level than physical contact, though. It was after my heart, attacking those I loved. It would be easier – for everyone – if it just came after me. And, who knows? Maybe I'd be able to fight it off like I had with the Reddings boys last month…

Edward had a different take on things. He looked into Alice's mind and a look of sheer mortification crossed his angelic face. It caused me pain to see that. Nothing should upset him as much as whatever Alice had seen was upsetting him. He looked like he'd break. His delicate mouth was twisted into a horrified grimace, and his eyebrows puckered in the center. When his usually content eyes met mine, I could practically feel the distress they revealed stabbing my heart. There was only a moment before he advanced toward me and took me roughly in his arms. He was shaking. Edward, my angel, was shaking with terror at whatever he'd seen.

"We have to leave…" he whispered in my ear.

Leave? We couldn't leave! A werewolf had just attacked Charlie, the last thing we should do was leave. I had to stay here and nurse him back to health when he was well enough to be released from the hospital. And in the meantime, we had to track down this beast and rip it to shreds to keep everyone else in town safe.

"No," I moaned. "We can't."

"Bella, we must! I cannot let this happen to you! You will not perish like that. I won't allow it!" Edward seemed persistent, but I could not – _would_ not – leave Charlie here alone and vulnerable to more attacks. Either something was uncontrollable and bloodthirsty or something was trying to get to me through my heart.

I realized, with a jolt, that if it was the latter we really _did_ have to leave. More specifically, _I_ had to leave. Everyone I knew, everyone I came in contact with was in danger… Edward, the Cullens, Jacob… they were all going to die if I didn't leave.

But as much sense as it made to leave, I simply could not wrap my mind around the thought of living anywhere else. Forks was… home. Those years that I'd lived in Manhattan had been bad enough without Edward, but simply the _location_ was enough to drive me completely mad.

And how long could I continue running? My problems were bound to catch up to me someday. It made more sense for me just to meet them head on, to face my fate and grab the bull by the horns.

"What did she even see?" I inquired, vaguely curious about what exactly was supposed to be murdering me. I promptly wished I hadn't asked. Edward's face returned to the tortured state that broke my dead heart all over again.

"Werewolf…" Alice gasped. Her face, too, was tormented. Though perhaps not to the same extent as Edward's was. If I _was_ to die, Alice wouldn't lose her true love – her other half – she'd lose a sister. And though both losses were unthinkable, unbearable, the former would be more painful.

Something triggered my intuition. She couldn't have seen a werewolf attacking me… she couldn't _see_ werewolves! "But Alice," she turned her woeful eyes towards me, "I thought you couldn't see werewolves?"

Behind the anguished look that thickly coated her eyes, they flickered confusion. Aha! Another mystery to solve.

"It's definitely what I saw though… a regular wolf couldn't tear into your skin like that…" her voice trailed and both she and Edward – whom I suspect was reading her mind – let a shudder take them over as she relived the vision in her mind.

I saw a few eyes dart, again, to Jacob. I felt my annoyance levels rising, again. Why was it always Jacob that got the blame?

"Stop it," I snapped at Rosalie, who was openly scowling at Jake. She had no right to accuse him for _anything._ There was no solid proof that he was the wolf that Alice had seen.

"But she's been able to see _him_ lately!" Rosalie retorted on impulse.

My eyes quickly found Alice's and then flickered to Jacob's. "Alice…" I said, turning slowly toward her, "You can _see_ him?"

Alice looked at Jacob as she nodded her head. I let out a sigh and shook my head in disbelief. This was all becoming too much to keep up with…

"Since when? Why?" The questions started to tumble out.

"Since you and Edward came back from your honeymoon. And… I have no idea why. Carlisle's been trying to figure it out, but frankly, he's as baffled as I am."

Baffled. _That_ word seemed only too perfect for my state of mind right now. Alice could see Jacob… but why? What had changed? Nothing. Except that… he was a vampire now…

"Could it be… is it because… he's one of us, too, now?" I voiced, my eyes tight in concentration. I looked over to Carlisle.

"It's feasible," he sighed shrugging.

"Which means he was the one in Alice's vision!" Emmett snarled, rubbing his knuckles threateningly.

"I would _never_ hurt Bella. I'd kill Charlie before I touched her!" Jacob bellowed defensively.

"So you admit it!"

I rolled my eyes, "He's saying he'd never hurt _either_ of us, Emmett."

"Well then who was it? Who is this werewolf that Alice can see harming you if it's not him?" Emmett's face was livid. He wasn't going to let this drop so easily.

"Bella… he's right. There's no way we can tell for sure that it wasn't him…" Edward said. His voice was so soft, so gentle in comparison to his also enraged face.

I shook my head stubbornly. I was certain that Jacob would never dream of harming me. After last month – when I'd thought it _was_ possible – he had proved to me that he was trustworthy. No one was going to budge my opinion on Jacob Black. Not even my husband.

"Where was I being attacked in the vision, Alice?"

Edward noticeably winced as Alice recalled the vision to the front of her mind _again_. It must have been hard to watch me being slaughtered for the third time in the past twenty minutes. I couldn't imagine if it were me watching Edward…

"It looks like you're… in the forest."

"Okay…" I began. I would not leave Forks. There was an easy way to prevent being attacked. I'd just have to live a few new rules. "So I won't go into the forest. And when I need to hunt, I'll go with a group. And Alice can look ahead to make sure that we'll be all right. How's that for a plan?"

Edward groaned quietly. "Not good enough, Bella. That plot could easily be foiled. And then where would we be?"

"Edward," I gasped, looking into his pained eyes. I knew that all he wanted was my safety. And I also knew that I would never be safe. "I cannot leave."

He gazed into my eyes for a moment; the topaz color seemed washed out in ancient grief. "And I cannot lose you, again. Bella…" he reached up and put one of his cool hands on the side of my cheek, resting it there and using it to try and help him persuade me to leave with him. "I _need_ you to be safe."

I lowered my eyes, unable to look at the weariness in his for a moment longer. Edward's _existence_ depended completely on me. If I lived, someone – or some_thing_ – could come after him. But if I died, he would follow me into that darkness. I could not let him cease to exist. I could not die, and I could not let him die. It was a difficult predicament seeing as there were werewolves and two very powerful vampire families coming after me and those I loved. I picked my eyes up off of the floor and looked into his heart wrenchingly desperate gaze. It was with a violently shaking voice that I insisted once more. "You won't lose me. I'll be here. Always." It was a promise that I could not be trusted in keeping.

A final grimace told me he was giving in. He'd stay with me. "Alright. But you will not leave my side. Not even once, do you understand?"

I let out a sigh of relief. "Yes."

"And, you," he growled, turning on Jacob. "You watch your step." His teeth were gritted and his eyes were hard.

"I would never even _think_ of hurting Bella." Jacob's eyes were defiant and his height was much more impressive than Edward's as they stared each other down. But Emmett let out a rumbling growl to show that he was on Edward's side, and Jacob backed down.

"If you don't want to hurt her," Edward said, a triumphant smirk slowly spreading across his face, "you'd better tell her what you're thinking now. It would hurt her… _emotionally_ if she found out you were keeping secrets…"

Edward's words caught my curiosity.

"What's he talking about? Jake?" I looked at him inquisitively. Jacob physically winced. "_Jake?_" I said, a little more firmly this time.

Ignoring the looks of superiority that he was getting from Edward and Emmett, Jacob looked at me remorsefully. "I… well… I didn't _mean_ to take so long hunting… I just… lost track of time."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "How?"

He looked down, unable to meet my gaze. I waited patiently for what seemed like hours before he finally mumbled, "Imesomody."

I blinked in confusion. He'd muttered something so low and fast that _I_ couldn't even catch it with my sharp sense of hearing. Edward sniggered softly in my ear, and I pushed at his ribs with my elbow. He stopped chuckling, but I could still see him grinning smugly in the periphery of my vision. "What? Jake, come on. You can tell me anything." I looked at his lowered head intensely, willing him to look up and trying to get him to open-up to me. It must have been something truly embarrassing if he didn't want to tell _me_ – his best friend.

Jacob finally looked up to meet my propelling gaze. A glaze of minor confidence seemed to overtake his eyes and he took a deep breath be for stuttering, "I… I met somebody."

I looked at him in bewilderment. "Who? Is another coven passing through?" I turned my head to look at Alice – she looked as surprised as I was – and she shook her head, stupefied.

"No… no, Bella. I mean… I met a girl. A vampire girl… but… a girl." He seemed to wince as he told me.

Oh. I was silent, unsure of what my reaction should be. I knew it was selfish and childish, but I'd come to expect Jacob to always be infatuated with me. I never expected him to find someone else. I realized immediately how self-centered those thoughts were and pushed them aside. I had to be _happy_ for Jacob – happy that he was finally moving on!

"That's great!" I exclaimed, fixing a wide grin on my face. Jacob's face seemed to lighten. "Who is she? When do I get to meet her? You do know that I am the official girlfriend inspector, right?" I teased. My intentions were not so pure. If I could find anything – anything at all – wrong with her, I'd get Jacob to stop seeing her. It wasn't for _my_ benefit, I tried to convince myself. Jacob deserved the _best._ Somewhere deep down I knew I was just being selfish, trying to keep him for myself. I tried to squish that feeling down, but I could feel it growing.

Jacob's face lightened further. "You really wanna meet her?" he asked.

I nodded eagerly. Maybe if I met her I could see how good she was for Jacob and convince myself to let him go. He shouldn't have to live a lonely, miserable life just because _I_ expected him always to love me. I didn't understand why my subconscious was being so stubborn. Jacob had always been a good friend to me. He even tried not to mind that Edward and I were so made for each other – why couldn't I be a good friend back?

"Well," he pondered, breaking me out of my disturbing thoughts. "I was supposed to meet her tomorrow. I guess I could bring her back here and you could all meet her…" his voice trailed.

"Wait a moment, Jacob," Carlisle started. "What does she hunt? She cannot stay here long if she hunts humans, and she cannot hunt in town."

"Oh, she drinks animals – like us," Jacob chimed in. He seemed so happy.

Carlisle nodded, appreciatively. "She doesn't have a coven somewhere?"

Jacob shook his head. "She lives on her own because she'd never found anyone else like her until me…" his voice trailed and his lips twitched up into a small smile. I had a feeling that if he could blush, he might have now. Why couldn't I be happy that she was making him happy? Why was this jealous monster rearing its head and grabbing at the reins, trying to take over?

The whole family seemed to be listening intently. I was slightly surprised, as they had all just accused him of attacking Charlie and been so sure that he _would_ attack me. Alice seemed to push the idea that Jacob might be a future attacker out of her head, her eyes shining in excitement at the affair.

"What's she like, Jake?" she asked, genuinely interested.

Jacob tried not to show the pleasure that he felt at being asked about this girl. He tried to hide the smile on his face, but it was blatantly obvious.

"Well… her name's Raychel. And… she's… well, beautiful. And she's funny and charming and considerate" – was it just me, or did his eyes flicker to me? – "and… just… overall _amazing._ I can't believe my luck in meeting her. What are the odds, right?" he grinned.

Alice beamed. Edward seemed a little sour, still, from the previous argument. But his spirits seemed to have been raised considerably by the realization that Jacob would _not_ be obsessing over me everyday, but instead on someone he didn't love. Carlisle had something like recognition embedded in his eyes, and he put an arm around Esme's waist. Esme's expression towards Jacob warmed noticeably, and Jasper tried to hide a smile at the feelings coming off of Jake. I realized, then, that I had to squish that feeling of jealousy immediately before Jasper felt it and told Edward. A fight was not something to look forward to. I tried, instead, to concentrate on the look of utter delight on Jacob's face – to let that emotion emanate through to me. It worked. To even imagine taking that look off of my friend's face was unforgivable.

Even Emmett and Rosalie seemed to back off a little bit. The whole family loved to watch young love evolve. They'd watched Edward's and my relationship grow, and now they were settling in to watch this relationship of Jacob's come to a climax. The vision was temporarily forgotten in the light of love. I knew that the Cullens would not stop being wary of Jacob until he proved himself – again. It seemed like nothing he ever did was good enough. I mean, for God's sake! He killed _Aro_ for _me._ If the murder of the master Volturi didn't show his loyalty to me, I don't know what should.

Alice kept prying Jacob for information about this girl and, as much as he tried to hide it, he loved every minute of it. The family had never really given Jacob much attention. He kept to himself, mostly, and talked to me sometimes. Other than that, he was the new odd man out.

I eventually blocked out the conversations going on around me and concentrated on the celestial movement that was happening outside the front window. I watched the sun set – dying the infinite supply of clouds a deep blood red. That color red reminded me all too well of the color a vampire's eyes turned when they were human drinkers – the color _my_ eyes had been not two months ago. I shuddered involuntarily. I marveled at how far I'd come – and so quickly. Was it because of my return to humanity and my starting over? Or was it because when I _was_ a human, I was repulsed by the smell of blood? It was something that I often let my thoughts muddle around in. And what about Jacob? He'd come almost as far as I had in even less time. Was _his_ because he was part werewolf – part protector of mankind against his other part? Or was it because of the utter revulsion he felt for himself all the time? Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Jacob had to be his own worst enemy. I wondered how the transformation had not driven him mad. Actually, I wondered how the transformation had happened. When a vampire's venom made contact with a werewolf's blood, the wolf often died on the spot. But not Jacob. There was something special about Jacob…

I was startled to see the dark clouds turning pink. The sun was rising. I would be meeting Jacob's new girl today. I felt a peculiar clench in my stomach. Nervousness. I tried to snap out of it before Jasper could notice. There was no _reason_ to be nervous. I was sure she was a nice girl. Probably just as great as Jacob had explained. I wished I'd listened more when Alice was talking to him about her…

"I'll go meet her where I said I would and then bring her back here to meet you all!" Jacob said, jumping up excitedly. I tried to take part in his excitement, but my smile was only half-hearted.

As soon as Jacob had left, Esme let out a contented sigh, her eyes sparkling. She loved to watch people fall in love. Genuine love, not like in the movies where actors _acted_ like they were falling in love. She liked to watch it up close and personal. She smiled at me from across the room, and I beamed back at her, unable to resist her enthusiasm. Alice was chattering with Jasper, and I didn't try to catch what she was saying. Instead I turned to look at Edward – to talk to him for the first time since I'd decided to stay and he decided to let me.

I turned my head to meet his gaze, unsurprised that he was already looking at me.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

His lips twitched up at one side of his mouth and he continued to look at me. There was so much love in his eyes. So much contentment. I couldn't help the smile that slowly stretched across my face. We were sitting side by side on the sofa in the living room next to the front hall. His hand, I realized, was clasped around my own, his thumb rubbing small, slow circles on the back of my palm. I immediately realized that no matter what Jacob's feelings were towards this girl, they didn't matter to me. I had everything I'd ever need, why should I upset my relationship with irrelevant matters like to whom Jacob's heart belonged? The answer was simple – I shouldn't.

Edward leaned over to touch his lips to the hollow underneath my ear and he let them trail along my jaw to meet my lips. I kissed him back, hungrily, my lips working fiercely against his.

A noise outside made us all stop what we were doing and look towards the front door. I could hear Jacob mumbling something – though I couldn't make out the words. The door swung open to reveal a benevolent Jacob Black. His form was so big that he took up the entire doorway.

"Bella, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie," he began. "This is Raychel."

And he stepped aside to reveal the girl who could, potentially, change our life.


	5. R A Y C H E L

**Everyone, I have an addiction problem.**

**TO YOUR REVIEWS!**

**Hey, admitting it is the first step to recovery, right? WRONG! Be my fix. :)**

**So this chapter... I don't like it. But again, it's your opinion that matters, not mine.**

**I must have typed Bella's reaction one hundred different ways before I settled on this one. She didn't like Raychel, Raychel didn't like Bella, Raychel was jealous of Bella, and so on and so forth. Seriously, one hundred different ways. But I finally settled on this one and I hope it's up to par with expectations. But I also hope you didn't expect it. And I hope Raychel is a character that you all can like, because she's not going anywhere for a while. ;)**

**And I really shouldn't give anything more away.**

**So I'll stop jabbering now, and get on with the thanks.**

**So many thanks to hotlipsb, Hello floor i'm bella, SIMPLY KIWI!, quietandclear, i.love.oreos, lovelyxangel, LoveTheGreen, Monkey-en-TuTu, ridiculouskopec, Italian-swim-chick, hellokittykisses, t3hg0d355, melting gold, "Charity", and a very special thanks to iheartemmett227 for adding herself to the groupie list. :)**

**So the song? I was listening to a lot of music during the very large, depressing state of writer's block that I went into while writing this chapter. Maybe the state was so depressing because of the songs I was listening to... but anyway! It's different from my normal style, but Never Yours by Tracy Chapman. For Jacob's POV? Yeahh, go read the lyrics after the chapter. ;)**

**And I shall cease my ramblings so that you may proceed. XD**

4. R A Y C H E L

I don't know exactly what I was expecting to see as Jacob stepped away to put Raychel in my line of vision. Perhaps I had anticipated a dark monstrosity looming in the doorway with crimson eyes leering down and analyzing my reaction. Or maybe I had been expecting something more along the lines of a fake blonde bimbo with fake blue contacts and provocative clothing that belonged on a corner in Port Angeles rather than standing in the doorway of the respectable house of Cullen. What I _wasn't_ expecting to see was what I got.

She was young, probably around my age, when she'd been transformed. She was short, but still taller than me, and her eyes were big and round and innocently wide. They were the same hue of butterscotch as the rest of the Cullens' eyes were and they were as expressive and excited as Alice's. Her hair was midnight black and fell in spiraling curls down past her shoulder blades, framing her attractively round face. She was beautiful – as were most vampires – with a small, angular nose that turned slightly upward at the end and a small mouth with full, red lips. She seemed so small in the doorway as the replacement of Jacob's slouched figure.

She looked hesitantly at all the faces that were peering curiously over at her. Her smile was apprehensive and guarded, but her eyes expressed true anxiety – she reminded me of me when I'd first met the Cullens. She wanted them – _us_ – to accept her.

"Hello," her voice was very soft, unconfident. "I'm Raychel. Jacob's told me so much about you all…"

Her eyes locked with mine. Her wide stare seemed to challenge me a bit. I wondered what exactly Jacob had told her about me…

Raychel looked away, then, to Jacob's face. I realized, with a jolt, that Jacob was smiling at her with _my_ smile. I felt a flicker of the jealousy I'd felt earlier ignite inside of me. I hoped Jasper hadn't noticed…

But when I looked at Jasper it was obvious that he hadn't. He was too wrapped up in Alice's airy expression and lithe movements as she bounded forward to throw her thin arms around Raychel's neck to consider much around him. He smiled good-naturedly at the happenings around him.

I chanced a glance at Edward's reaction. He looked utterly disconcerted. His face was uneasy and I felt his hand gently squeezing mine in concern. I wondered what was going on inside her head…

Esme and Carlisle were smiling welcomingly at the newcomer, but, besides those two and Alice and Jasper, no one seemed quite so quick to take Raychel in right away. Emmett's expression was still stony from earlier arguments, and when Jacob pointed in his direction and told Raychel his name, he nodded once in her direction, rather stiffly, before crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Jacob again. Rosalie seemed in the same mood. When Jake muttered her name to the girl, Rosalie's nostrils flared and I could have sworn I heard a low hiss escape her perfect mouth.

"That's Edward," Jacob said huskily, motioning vaguely in Edward's direction.

Raychel's eyes met Edward's and I felt his hand clench more tightly onto mine. Something was bothering him about her. I wanted to ask what it was right there, but a meaningful stare from him told me that I had to wait for a more private opportunity.

"And this is Bella, my best friend," Jacob said grinning benevolently down at me. I returned his grin and then turned a welcoming gaze toward Raychel. Her wide eyes were seeking acceptance, and I decided that I'd let her have it… for now.

"It's so great to meet you, Raychel! Jacob's been talking about you _all_ night."

The anxiousness that had seemed embedded in her eyes settled and she looked up at me almost admiringly. "Really?" she asked me before turning to Jacob, himself. Jacob looked down at her and brought his lips to her forehead. She smiled contentedly and I found myself beginning to like her despite myself.

She looked back up at me, her young, vulnerable stare was enticing – I couldn't look away from her big, round eyes. "Jacob's told me _so_ much about you. It's great to finally meet you in person."

I looked at Jacob curiously, but he kept his eyes away from mine. "Oh? And what has Jacob said?"

Jacob finally met my gaze, his eyes expressing a wild mixture of fear and embarrassment.

"Well he told me you were pretty, but _that_ was an understatement, obviously. And he said you were brave and courageous. He told me a couple stories…"

I raised my eyebrows expectantly. "Which stories?"

Raychel's eyes were shining with sheer amazement. "He told me about just last month, the way you got rid of those creeps – the Reddings. I forget their names, but certainly not their demise. That was _genius_."

I smiled, discomfited. Genius was an _over_statement.

"And he told me about how you saved Edward from the Volturi. _That_ was brave. I don't think I could ever face impending death without a second thought…" Raychel's face was composed of utmost sincerity in her compliments. I was very flattered, but I was sure that Jacob had played me up to be much better than I was.

I sighed. "Honestly, I'm not that great."

Edward chuckled beside me. "Oh, don't be modest, Bella. None of us would be here right now if it weren't for you."

I could feel the humiliation levels rising. "You wouldn't have needed to be saved in the first place if it weren't for me…" was the only retaliation that I could come up with.

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella," Alice snapped. I simply looked at the floor.

Raychel's eyes danced with newfound awe and, as much as I was trying not to, I couldn't help but feel flattered by her naïve admiration.

Looking at the floor again, I mumbled, "Really… it wasn't that big of a deal…"

If it were possible, Raychel's eyes bulged even wider against her skull in utter disbelief. "Not that big of a deal!" she exclaimed in her soft voice. I took note of just how soft it actually was. It was _too_ soft. The pitch was like the delicate _tink_ of a pin's head dropping onto glass. It was unnaturally fragile – even for a vampire – and I found it unnerving. I suppressed a shudder as she began to ramble on about my bravery.

"I couldn't even _imagine_ stepping up to _that_ plate! You must care so much about this family to risk everything for them…"

I looked around me. This _was_ everything. Without this family, where would I be? _Who_ would I be? I shuddered to think of what my existence would consist of had I not met Edward – any of them, really – and turned my attention on answering Raychel's standing question.

"This family _is_ everything to me. If I lost them – let them be lost – I would never be able to forgive myself – not for the rest of eternity. There's nothing I wouldn't risk for any of them."

She responded by beaming at me and saying, "Your passion is admiral."

Again, I was unsure of how to respond.

"So, Raychel," Carlisle asked, taking over the conversation. "What's your story?"

Her excitement level seemed stuck on high as Raychel plunged into her tale.

"Well," she began dramatically, "I was changed in 1994 – unwillingly of course. The change was a mistake – I was meant to be someone's dinner." She shrugged, appearing as though the memory did not bother her anymore. "I was on my way home from my job at a movie theater in Michigan. It was late and dark. The stars weren't even visible through the cloud cover that night," her voice had dropped to a dramatic, husky tone for effect and her eyes were darting from face to face around the room. I fought a smile at her theatric performance as she continued. "A man – except, he wasn't _really_ a man – seemed to come out of nowhere. He was big and burly. I'd never _seen_ anyone so big! He could have been a football player with the speed and strength he possessed. But, anyway, he came out of nowhere, swooping me into an alleyway. I'd barely had time to scream before he was sinking his teeth into the flesh of my neck." Raychel's eyebrows were raised and she was looking through her lashes with a thoroughly sinister gleam in her eye. She was a very good storyteller – something she and Jacob had in common, I remembered. "He'd started to drain me of my life, but a police car turned the corner, then, sirens blaring. The vampire that had bitten me bailed and threw me away from him. My head hit a brick wall and I blacked out. When I woke up, I thought I was dead." Her voice was morose, now, as she recalled her first vampire moments. "Everything around me was black…" Jacob snaked an arm around her waist as her excitement rapidly faded to chagrin. "It took me hours to figure our I was in a coffin."

Alice's intake of breath would have been inaudible to a human. "They buried you? Your family?" she asked. Alice could relate with family issues. I had shown her – last month with my peculiar gift to see human pasts – when her parents had checked her into an insane asylum.

Raychel nodded, blatant grief washing over her as she relived her losses in her mind. "I'd gone into a coma while I was transforming and when it was complete, my heart stopped… I was cold… everyone thought I was dead. And I wake up four hours later in a coffin under eight feet of dirt." Her disdain was obvious. "By the time I clawed my way out of there, I was going mad with thirst. I saw something move on the other side of the graveyard and I attacked on instinct without a second thought. It was halfway through the raccoon's blood that I realized what I was…"

Her wide stare had shifted from the circling family to the floor, again.

"But you continued to drink animals?"

Raychel nodded. "I disgusted myself. I didn't want to harm anyone because of what I was, so I kept testing my willpower by feeding on animals." The sorrow picked up off of her face, slightly as she said, "I've never once spilled human blood."

Carlisle's gentle smile broke into a wide, amazed grin. "Truly?" Raychel nodded. "That's wonderful! Very strong of you. And congratulations, by the way."

Raychel smiled again, her bubbly self leaking through again. "Thank you!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Well," came Edward's voice beside me, "it was very good to meet you, Raychel. Bella and I were going to go on a mini-trip today, I hope you don't mind." And he led me through the doorway to go onto the hunting trip I didn't know we were going on.

There was nothing but silence between us for nearly two hours as we hunted. It wasn't long before we caught onto a trail of deer and followed that. The herd was bending down at a creek to drink some of the sparkling water when we attacked.

It was still a peculiar sensation for me, not to drink human blood. I let the buck's warm, sour blood flow freely into my mouth before taking a mighty gulp. The consistency of the blood was nowhere near as fulfilling as humans' blood was. The blood that ran in the veins of mankind was lustrously thick and sweet. It quenched even the deepest thirsts at immediate contact with our lips and it enhanced our powers to their full ability, whereas animals' blood was quite the opposite. Although it took nothing away from us, it gave our kind little. Granted, it quenched out thirst, but it took much more blood to get to that same level of contentment that human blood almost instantly gratified. And feeding on animals did not enhance our power so much as sustain it. No, the difference of hunting animals and humans were different to the extreme.

But there were perks, too. Although the guilt that lay with me for the many humans that I _had_ fed on would remain a constant burden for the rest of my existence, I felt as if I were helping repay the debt I got myself into by living this lifestyle. It made me feel as though I were doing the right thing in keeping more people alive by taking the lives of their inferiors. It was a petty way to try and do some good, but it was the only way we had.

It wasn't long before the sun started to set and Edward and I began our way slowly home. He still had not said a word to me since our departure from the house.

"She's lovely, isn't she?" I asked him. There was no need to specify who "she" was.

"Rather," was the only word he said in a pondering tone.

"Do you think they're in love?"

Edward was silent for a moment, and then he looked at me. "Jacob might be. But I don't know about her."

I raised my eyebrows. "It seemed to me like she was more obsessed with him than he was with her."

"Yes, it did _seem_ that way, didn't it…" Edward was being completely serious, and it scared me to think of Jacob being hurt like that. Unrequited love was the worst, and I only had a few months' experience in the matter.

"What are you saying, Edward? She doesn't feel the same? Then why would she stick around?"

"Bella, I'm not saying anything's certain. I've got to talk to Jasper and Alice before I make any assumptions. But I don't know her purpose here, I don't know her feelings on the matter, I don't know anything about her besides what she's told us!"

I gaped at him. "Are you saying… what I think you're saying…?"

His only response was a single nod.

Edward could not read Raychel's mind.


	6. I N T E N T I O N S

**Dude.**

**Whoa.**

**Eighteen reviews?! That's my personal record. :)**

**And you don't understand how happy I am that I've got you all enthralled in this. The fact that none of you saw that coming - that was awesome. I was considering not doing that because I thought it was imminent and obvious, but _obviously_ I was mistaken. :) **

**I don't think any of you are going to expect what happens in the end.**

**So thank you so very, very much CammieSwan1785, quietandclear, i.love.oreos, Hello floor i'm bella, paypay07, RodentOfUnusualSize (I love your Pen Name, by the way. XD), Monkey-en-TuTu, SIMPY KIWI!, iheartemmett227, Hotaru89, Italian-swim-chick, hotlipsb, t3hg0d355, LoveTheGreen, melting gold, ridiculouskopec, Edward-Addiction, and, I'm glad you're back, Badr. **

**So the song I've picked for this chapter's soundtrack is Tired and Uninspired by My American Heart.**

**Read these again, when you're done.**

**_Home, was always quiet 'til the sun went down.  
But we were stowaways.  
Yeah, we were so afraid._**

So, we ran out of town.  
From everyone who was calling us out.  
Relax, relax.  
Exhale and breathe, just breathe for me.

Oh, they're not frame,  
Oh, it went away.  
You knew you had to leave and couldn't stay.  
Be strong for me, I'll be strong for you.

**Honestly, I wasn't even listening to it while I was writing.**

**Alright, so enough of my banter. Here's chapter five!!**

5. I N T E N T I O N S

The exact location of where Edward and I were standing in the forest was unbeknown to me as I turned and fled in the general direction of the house. My mind was racing almost as fast as my feet were. Edward could not read Raychel's mind.

The initial emotion was wild fear. What if she was here to hurt the Cullens? Hurt Jacob? I simply could not let her. She would have to go through me, first. There was no doubt in my mind that I would step aside and let her take my family.

Then I felt angry. How dare she? Not even a vampire should be so heartless to make someone fall in love with them and then stab them in the back.

But then, as I heard Edward calling me back to him, I felt foolishness. I was always so prepared to play little Miss Hero that I never considered the other options – the positive ones. What if Raychel genuinely liked Jake? What if Jacob could finally have his happily ever after? I couldn't mess that up for him, not after all the pain I'd already caused him. After all, maybe Raychel was the key to Jacob getting over me as more than a friend. Maybe she could be the key to his long-awaited happiness. Who would I be to take that away from him? Not a best friend, that's for sure. No, I concluded as my feet slowed to a stop to wait for Edward, I couldn't make dangerous assumptions like that. Raychel seemed very nice. I couldn't make the supposition that she was going to hurt us.

I waited for Edward to come to my side – he was there in an instant.

"Bella, what do you think you're doing?"

I looked up at him sheepishly. "I was _going_ to save Jacob from the evil little girl that he's in love with. But-"

"No, Bella," Edward was stern. "We mustn't upset Jacob. If we start to conspire against the woman that he has affections for, he'll leave to the La Push pack. That's the last thing we want him to do, Bella."

I looked at him very seriously for a moment before responding. "Well, I talked myself out of it, thinking that maybe she didn't have cruel intentions and she really did genuinely like Jake. So I wasn't going to say anything… yet, at least."

Edward's face softened and his lips touched my forehead. His eyes were liquid gold, being recently fed, and his voice was velvety smooth when he said, "Good. Don't. I have to talk to Alice and Jasper to see if they could get anything from her, either. And, another thing; don't leave my side out here, again. If there's a werewolf that wants you dead on the loose, it's better we stick together, do you understand?" I realized he was right and nodded.

Edward sighed, wearily. "Good. Now, let's take our time getting back there. There's no rush." One side of his mouth lifted in wry smile as he took my hand in his and started to make his way through the trees again.

I watched my husband's back as he picked his way through the underbrush of the forest. I felt my lips twitch up at the thought. My _husband_. I still wasn't used to it. Edward was my husband. Mine. And he always would be. He would always be looking out for me and trying to keep me safe, he would always be holding me as the sun set and the moon rose high into the black night, and he would always be mine. Nobody else's. I realized, with a jolt, that I had almost taken this same feeling away from Jacob. It sickened me. I didn't know what my problem was! Was it my jealousy that was pushing me away from Raychel? Or was there a real sense of foreboding somewhere inside of me? At any rate, I never would have forgiven myself if I'd just gone straight to the Cullens' house and started to murder Raychel just because Edward couldn't read her mind. It was ridiculous and overbearing of me to let Raychel take such effects on my emotions. She was just a girl – a girl that Jacob could see himself with that _wasn't_ me. I should be jumping for joy! There would be no more World War Three in the house with Jacob always pining over me and Edward growing tired of it.

The remainder of the journey home through the woods was a blur to me. I had been too busy thinking about Edward and Jacob to realize that we had reached the house, and I quickly became eager, again, to hear if Alice's or Jasper's powers had any effect on Raychel. We entered, and she was still there, chattering happily with the rest of the family.

"No, my parents were vegetarians, so I never ate meat when I could have…" she was saying. I smiled slightly. Her vegetarianism as a human had crossed over into her vampire characteristics, as well. I glanced over at Edward and saw his concentrated expression. He was trying to break into her mind.

"Oh, Edward, I'm glad you're back!" Alice said, standing from her spot on the sofa and gracefully walking over to where the two of us stood. Her eyes were concerned when they met Edward's, and she apparently thought something to him, because he nodded. The nod would only have been noticeable had one been watching for it. His chin barely moved an eighth of an inch down before bouncing back up again. Edward's stony expression confirmed his earlier thoughts, which he had confided in me earlier in the day – Alice could not see Raychel's future.

Raychel looked up at our trio, curiously. She looked as though she might ask something, but then she caught sight of the window. "Oh, my! It's getting dark already! I should go back to the cabin… It was so lovely meeting you all!" Her wide stare swept the room, finally resting on me. "Bella, I'm sorry we didn't get to talk, more. I wanted to get to know you as well as Jacob, does!" she giggled. "But there will be other times, right?" Her eyes lit up, she was so sincere, I couldn't help but agree.

"Right," I assured her, beaming back.

"Hold on, Raych, I'll walk you." Jacob stood up to take her home.

She sent a final wave in the family's general direction and slipped out the door into the night.

The entire house was silent for a moment as every last one of us listened for the fading footsteps before we launched into gossip.

"I can't see her. I mean, I can look ahead and see Jacob, but I can't see her."

"I can't hear what she's thinking, either. But, it's strange, I have this ominous sense that she's blocking her mind…"

"Really? Well I can feel her emotions, perfectly. She's very much in love with Jacob. More than he is in love with her, actually…"

Jasper's input took me off guard. I had been expecting one of two things – either he couldn't feel her at all or he could and she was feeling some kind of powerful emotion that would lead to all our demise.

"Say again, Jasper?" I asked, desperate for a different answer. Why I was so desperate, I was not sure. I internally cursed myself for being so selfish.

"I can feel her emotions. When she came, she was very nervous and scared. Then, as that eased up a bit, I could feel both Jacob's and her feelings for one another. Granted, Jacob likes her a lot, but she likes him _more_. Exponentially more."

I could feel my jaw hit the ground, but I mad no effort to pick it up.

"Will you all stop this?" It was Esme that spoke up this time. "Raychel is a lovely girl, and she seems very good for Jacob. This could be a good thing for _all_ of us. Why must you all characteristically judge her so harshly? Has she done something to harm you? Has she done something to anger you?" Esme looked rather angry as she scolded all her children and me for our scrutiny.

I immediately felt guilty for being such a snob, but Edward fired off again. "Not _yet,_ Esme. But she could. And then how would _you_ feel if one of us were injured because we weren't careful enough?"

This seemed to make her think for a moment. Carlisle spoke up, then. "Edward makes a good point, Esme. We should watch our step until we know more about her. If Alice can't see her and Edward can't read her, we could be treading dangerous waters…"

Esme nodded, comprehension dawning on her face. "It just seems… wrong to judge her on such an… up in the air kind of basis. She really is a lovely girl. I'm quite taken with her. And… I hope you're wrong. I hope she's perfectly safe and normal… well as normal as a vampire can get, anyway…"

I smiled at her optimism. Esme was always searching for the best in people – even when there was nothing to be found.

"So what should we do? Wait till she kills one of us before we act?" Rosalie sneered. She still did not like Raychel. I found my smile growing at the memories of when Rosalie was as unfriendly to me. I was much more comfortable in the Cullen household knowing that she now had no problem with me.

"No, Rosalie, of course not. Our first step should be to stick together at all times – no wandering off on your own. And perhaps we should warn Jacob…"

"No, Carlisle." Edward was using the same stern tone that he had used to tell me off for considering telling Jacob. "He'll get angry and then he'll leave to the werewolves. That's the last thing we want."

"No, Edward, the last thing we want is a broken hearted half-werewolf on our hands."

"We've had one…" Edward muttered so softly I wasn't sure if he'd meant anyone to hear it. But I did and I felt waves of remorse and guilt lapping at my heart.

"Either way," Alice chimed in, "he'll be hurt. If we warn him about her he'll be angry at us for not giving her a chance. If we wait until she does something he'll be broken from the thought that she never loved him…"

"But she does love him!" Jasper was desperately trying to get us to believe it. "The feeling emanating from her is almost as strong as the one that comes off of Bella for Edward."

"Why are we assuming, again, that she will do _anything?_" Esme tried to say it calmly, but I could see the anger boiling up again.

"Because it's better to be safe than sorry," Edward was so firm, so authoritative, that he sounded like a father rather than a son.

The family was ripping each other apart all because of this Raychel girl. And, as much as I wanted there to be, there was nothing even wrong with her!

"I'll do it," I whispered.

Seven heads snapped in my direction.

"Do what?" Emmett asked, though by the look on his face, he knew very well what I was talking about.

"I'll warn Jacob."

"Bella," Edward growled.

"No! Hear me out! Jacob needs to be warned that we don't know what's going on in her head! But if any of you do it, he'll freak out, transform, and kill someone before running off to join Sam and his new pack. But if _I_ do it, he's less likely to lose control. If it's _me_ he'll hear me out and _force_ himself not to hurt me. He'll wait till he's well out of range to transform, and maybe he won't even go to Sam. Maybe, if I tell him gently enough, he'll stay." Maybe he'll stay for me…

The faces around me were apprehensive. "Bella," Emmett started, looking at me like I was crazy. "Alice had a vision of you being murdered by a werewolf yesterday. Doesn't that scare you at all?"

"Of course it scares me," I said, rolling my eyes. Hadn't we had this conversation already? "But it wasn't Jacob. Trust me, he won't lay a paw on me."

"I do not want you alone with a half-werewolf telling him something he will find to be upsetting!" Edward snarled.

"Then how do you propose we do this, Edward?" I half-yelled. "It needs to be done! I won't let him get hurt."

"Bella will be fine, Edward," Alice sighed. She was looking ahead, and she seemed a little exasperated, also, at Edward's mistrust in Jacob. Alice had grown to like Jacob more and more over the course of time that he'd been living with us. It was nice to know I had _someone_ on my side.

Edward glared at his sister for not siding with him. His amber eyes flicked to me and he scrutinized me for a moment. Finally, he uttered one word: "Fine." He was disgruntled and bitter, but he seemed to have enough sense to trust Alice. I threw my lips onto his in thanks.

As I pulled away, though, he continued. "But I will be in the next room. Under no circumstances are you going to be in an empty house when you do this. Speaking of which, when will you do this?"

I sighed and bit my lip in concentration. "The sooner, the better," I decided. "I'll talk to him when he gets back from walking her home."

As if my words had summoned him, Jacob's cheery whistle could be heard through the trees as he made his way to the house.

"Good luck, Bella," Alice said as she threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. The others made their way upstairs as Edward simply disappeared into the next room.

The door swung open, and Jacob waltzed in, smiling buoyantly.

"Jake…"

"Hey, Bells. Where is everyone?" His cheery expression seemed to fall slightly as he noticed the expression on my face.

"Oh… they're… around."

"What's wrong?" Jacob's concern was bitingly sincere. "What's happened?"

"Jacob. I've got to talk to you about… about Raychel."

As if on cue, Jacob's concerned expression immediately sunk into one of utter stone. "What about her?" He asked monotonously.

I took a shuddering breath, hoping to breath in some confidence to my shaking voice. It did no good, I was still as nervous as before as I continued. "Well… I'm concerned" – I made a point to keep the rest of the Cullens out of this – "about what she wants here…"

"What do you mean?" Jacob prompted when he sensed that I was going to stop.

"Well… it seems that Alice can't see her in her visions… and… Edward can't hear her thoughts… so I don't know if she's really here why she says she is."

Jacob's face, if possible, became even more stoic at the accusation. "So just because your precious _Edward_ can't figure her out, that means she automatically _has_ to be a threat? God, Bella, he couldn't read _your_ mind, but he kept _you_ around! Why can't you just trust my judgment on this one? Just this once?" His voice was rising as he became more and more angry. He hadn't started to shake yet, though, which was a good sign.

I was at loss for words. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to trust Jacob's decision, I really did, but the fact that Raychel could have cruel intentions was sitting there burning a hole in the back of my mind. "I… just… wanted to… to warn you… We don't know how she _really_ feels about you…"

Jacob glared down at me. "Well, _I_ do." He couldn't, though. He couldn't know for sure that Raychel felt the same way about him that he did about her. "I asked Jasper. He says she loves me back. You can't _fake_ that feeling, just as you can't _fake_ that you _don't_ love someone. No matter how hard you try, you just _can't._ I should know…" he mumbled, glowering at me again. I'd never been on the receiving end of one of those glares, and it unnerved me. I noticed Jacob's fists start to tremble slightly, and I felt a pinch of anger, myself. I was just looking out for him, why should Jacob get angry at me? "I have to leave," he said suddenly, breaking the tense silence with his gruff, husky voice. He had started to shake more violently, his fists clenched so tightly that the tendons were sticking out.

"Where?" I asked.

He looked out the window, avoiding my gaze, as he answered. "Anywhere. I just have to get out."

Jacob was leaving. I stared at him, willing him with every fiber of my body to meet my eyes. But he didn't. "When will you be back?" I finally asked.

"I don't know." He was still looking out the window.

"I'll miss you," I choked out. I could feel the burning of the tears creeping to the corners of my eyes. He finally broke his gaze from the window and met my eyes. The anguish cut through me like a hot knife through butter looking at those eyes. It was unbearable.

"I'll miss you, too, Bells," he whispered. The shaking abruptly ceased and before I knew it he was cradling me against his warm chest. Just as I was settling in for a nice, long embrace, he released me, turning on his heel toward the front door.

Edward came back into the room, then, and stopped, looking at Jacob intently. After a moment, he nodded and stuck out his hand. "Be careful, then. If you ever want to get away, you're always welcome back here."

Jacob shook Edward's hand and tipped his head in thanks. And then he was gone. I watched him retreat to the forest, running at top speed.

"Where is he going?" I asked, even though I was fairly positive of the answer.

Edward was grim as he responded, "Back to the La Push pack. He… won't return…"


	7. Jacob's Decision

**Okay. Hello.**

**So a few of you are a little confused by Jacob's immediate return to the pack, so I feel like I should fully explain myself in this decision.**

**1) When Jacob was in wolf form, the pack was already calling back to him because Sam found out about his being alive and such. So his decision was not fully based on the Cullens' supposed-rejection of Raychel, he was being tempted to go back in the first place. The only reason he stayed was because of his feelings for Bella. Now that those feelings are fading because of Raychel, he figured he has no excuse.**

**2) Jacob will not be telling the pack about Raychel for fear of her safety. Secret relationships are _so_ fun. XD**

**3) Doesn't Jake _always_ have a plan??? Do not underestimate him. XD**

**So I should shut up before I give away the whole freaking story. I hope that this was helpful and not just a waste of time. XD I should have the next chapter up either tomorrow or Sunday. **

**Thanks for the criticisms and reviews!  
Safety, love, happiness,  
Mel**


	8. G O N E

**Thank you all so very much for the reviews.**

**I'm sorry I'm not more enthusiastic, but the enthusiasm would ruin the mood for this chapter and that's the last thing I want to do. So I will not be doing my usual "thank you's" today, because of the fact that this chapter is so pessimistic and I don't want my optimism to cancel it out. I'll post them all next chapter. I hope you don't hate me too much.**

**The song for this chapter is When It Goes Down by Something Corporate.**

**------------------**

**REASON FOR UPDATE AT THE END OF CHAPTER!  
(Because it will make you laugh and, as I said, I don't want to ruin the mood.)**

6. G O N E

For the first few days that Jacob was gone, all I did was worry. I worried whether or not he would really be accepted into the new pack, I fretted about what he would do with them if he _was_ accepted, and, most of all, I worried about whether or not he would consider hurting any of the Cullens or let them be hurt by a different wolf. I kept telling myself that Jake would be loyal to the family. He did, after all, owe them a lot for their hospitality and their help with becoming civilized. But no matter what I told myself, the constant worry was above my head like a rain cloud that refused to go away.

My fears were put to rest, one day, when Alice Jasper and Emmett came back from hunting looking extremely grim.

Edward and I were sitting on the sofa in the living room watching the evening news report. The anchorwoman was describing a murder that had occurred in town the previous evening. I watched it with little interest, only vaguely aware of how murders were not often come across in the little town of Forks as I let my fingers skim along the bluish veins that ran through Edward's wrist, humming a tune that I didn't even recognize. When I looked up to let my eyes appraise his face, though, his distress was ominous. His brow was puckered in the center and the corners of his lips pointed visibly downward. He was staring intently at the murder information on the screen and, as the theories of causes of death poured out of the woman's mouth, he shook his head, muttering unintelligibly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, truly curious. It seemed as though he knew something about this murder that the police did not. I felt a pang of worry. Perhaps if Charlie had not been attacked and was not currently incapacitated, I could tell him the information that Edward was about to pass on to me.

"That was no beating. That was a vampire."

I simply stared at him. "Are you sure?"

He merely nodded, his eyebrows knitting together in concentration. When he didn't say anything more, I let the subject drop. He'd tell me if he thought it was something we needed to worry about…

Jus then the front door swung open and Edward almost simultaneously clicked off the television. Alice, Jasper, and Emmett all trudged in from hunting, each looking more somber than the last.

"You saw them?" Edward asked Alice. She nodded, her face stony. "Well? What happened?"

It didn't take too long to catch on – they'd run into the pack while hunting.

Emmett shrugged as he answered, "Jacob still can't transform at will, so… he wasn't with them. But we talked to the leader, Sam. He says Jacob's too upset with himself to cooperate just yet, so he's hanging back at Billy's, trying to figure out how to morph by choice."

"Upset with himself?" I asked. "Why? About what?"

Jasper looked at me for a while with an incredulous expression painted on his handsome face. "Isn't it obvious, Bella?" I simply shook my head no, my curiosity growing to new levels. Jasper sighed as if we should _all_ be able to feel Jacob's emotions. "Well… he's frustrated with himself for many reasons. One is that he still can't get a handle on his power to convert to a wolf. Another reason is that he's turned himself over to the werewolves and put himself in a position where he cannot return. But the third, most obvious reason is that he still loves _you_ Bella." There went my jaw again – it had made a habit of falling on the floor.

"N- no he doesn't," I protested, "He's in love with Raychel. That's why he left, he thought we were ganging up on him about her…"

But Jasper was shaking his head. "No, Bella, he still loves you more than her. And that's making him angry with himself because he's tried _everything_ to stop loving you."

I groaned. It frustrated Jacob? How could it frustrate _him_ when it was too busy frustrating _me?_

"But, anyway…" said Alice, eyeing my reaction to Jasper's words warily. "It seems that Jacob made a deal with Sam – he'd come back if Sam and the rest of the pack agreed not to hunt any 'vegetarians'. Sam agreed, but they were hunting today for the vampire that attacked that poor mother of two the other day in town." Alice's eyes lowered. "They think it's hiding in the woods somewhere…" she mumbled. Alice seemed rather morose for her usually peppy self.

"Alice," Edward snapped. "Stop thinking that. It's not _your_ fault that someone got attacked."

Alice looked up at her brother. "You don't understand, Edward! If I'd seen it, it never would have happened. Think of that poor family and what they have to go through now! If I just could have seen it coming I could have stopped it!"

"No," Edward shook his head, "you couldn't. It's not _our_ job to save the world, Alice. It's not our responsibility to protect the human race from our kind."

"But we should be able to protect Forks, Edward! This quiet little town does not need the overwhelming drama of a vampire's life!"

Edward and Alice glared at each other for a moment before a wild knocking at the door interrupted the tense silence. Emmett turned to stare at the oak wood door for a moment – the frenzied racket unceasing from the opposite side – before reaching forward and wrenching the door back; a very flustered Raychel fell across the threshold.

An uncontainable wave of pity swept over me. The girl was a mess. Browned leaves and twigs and other forms of debris from the forest were caught in her midnight black mane, and her wide eyes were rolling around in their sockets wildly. Her breaths were coming in short, sobbing gasps as she tried to form words with her quivering lips.

"Raychel!" Jasper exclaimed in surprise. I could feel the surging power of the calm he was aiming at her from where I was standing across the room. She stopped sobbing and took a few deep, composing breaths before turning an angry glare at me.

"Where is he?" She was in my face at lightening speed, talking through clenched teeth. "Why hasn't Jacob been to see me?" Her stare was rather accusing, and I only barely resisted the urge to scowl right back at her.

"He's left. He's gone back to his werewolf pack." The words felt heavy on my tongue. It was hard for me to accept that for myself, let alone convince his potential mate of it.

My words seemed to have shaken her aggressive approach. Raychel stared at me in blank incomprehension. "Why?" she finally wailed, her usually soft voice taking on a whiny persona. "Why would he do that?" Her tone held the same kind of utmost hopelessness that I had felt when Edward had left me twelve years ago.

I realized, for the first time, that it was _my_ fault Jacob had left. How could I have been so foolish? The only reason Jacob had been staying in the first place was because he couldn't let go of his feelings for me. Raychel took that hold that I'd had over him away from me and he went skipping back to Sam the first chance he got.

I couldn't tell Raychel the truth – couldn't watch her start to hate me. "It was… his destiny…" I mumbled lamely. Raychel's shoulders slumped and her chin tucked down into her chest, her dark hair acting like a curly curtain and hiding her face from our prying eyes.

The distress that she must have been experiencing was all too familiar to me. The thought of true love walking away was a feeling I knew much too well. I unnoticeably shuddered at the thought of it ever happening again. I let my eyes wander back to Raychel. Her shoulders were shaking from the force of the dry sobs that were eking out of her little body, a fresh lapse of pity licking at my heart. It wasn't fair, I realized defiantly, Jacob was hurting me and Raychel both. He was being unnecessarily selfish.

With one more glance at the frantic girl, I stood from my seat on the sofa. "C'mon," I said, motioning to Raychel as I started towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Edward snapped as Raychel blinked at me in confusion.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing, Edward," I told him sternly as I picked the keys to the Volvo off of the hook they dangled on next to the door. "I have to try something – anything – to make him see reason and return…"

"Bella, NO!" Edward roared. The sound was deafening and the windows rattled gently at the reverberating decibels that bounced off of the walls. "I will not allow you to just wander right into werewolf country! That's like asking for Alice's vision to come true!"

"I agree, Bella. This is probably not one of your best ideas…" Jasper tentatively agreed. "It's like taking cheese off of a mousetrap – no matter how gentle you are, the trap is gonna spring."

I felt myself sigh in exasperation. How many times had we had this conversation? "Jacob won't hurt me."

"It's not Jacob I'm worried about. There are four young werewolves and Sam Uley patrolling the La Push land. If you set foot across that border, they won't hesitate to rip you to shreds."

Oh. Jasper made a good point. I considered for a moment, but my mind was made up. "Jacob wouldn't let them," I decreed, proceeding to the front door with Raychel eagerly at my heels.

"NO! Bella!" Edward's volume had not decreased. He stood and stomped over to me to get in my face.

"You're practically walking into the open mouth of a hungry lion with this decision, Bella," Emmett put in, staring at me like I had leprosy.

"I don't care! I'm sick of Jacob being such a drama queen! I've got to go talk some sense into him…"

"Logic won't _work_, Bella. I'm _begging_ you, do not go to that reservation!" I looked away before Edward's topaz gaze could dazzle me into seeing things his way. I had to go. It hurt that I couldn't oblige to Edward's wishes, but this was something that I needed to do, and I was set in stone; no one was going to change my mind – not even Edward.

"So come with me, then, if you're so worried," I snapped. I'd figured that he'd back off, then, seeing as Edward never went to La Push if he could help it.

But to my utter surprise, Edward plucked the keys to the Volvo from my hand. "Emmett, Jasper – you should come, too. In case we need… back-up." The both of them nodded and came to stand by my side. Alice stood alone in the middle of the hallway, glaring pointedly at Edward who growled lowly. "I am notbeing _sexist_, Alice. You may come, too, if you wish." Alice's face brightened and she skipped forward.

"Well, let's go!" she chimed in her musical voice.

"You're not planning on leaving _me_ here, are you?" Rosalie made an appearance from her bedroom and came swiftly down the stairs. I nodded for her to join the excursion – seven of us. We outnumbered the werewolves by one.

"Alright," I said to the group. "Let's go." I turned to exit the house and make my way across the lawn to the garage, but I had one more obstacle to face.

In order for Carlisle to keep working in Forks' hospital, he needed to disguise his youth. Silver hair paint and silicon wrinkles seemed to have done the trick, but it was still weird for me to see him incognito, and as I turned to escape the confines of the house, Carlisle was stepping through the doorway, pulling off one of his fake cheeks.

I was still cringing at watching him pull off his plastic when I noticed his somber expression. "What's wrong, Carlisle?" Emmett asked, beating me to it. Instinctively, I looked to Edward. His face was bleak and he was focused on something out the window. He wouldn't meet my eyes – the news had to be bad.

"I need to speak with Bella for a moment, if you don't mind." I nodded and stepped forward. I sighed, figuring that he was about to try to talk me out of going to La Push, too. How very wrong I was. "If you'd like, we can talk alone."

I almost laughed at the suggestion. "Why bother?" I asked jokingly. Even if we did clear out the room, the entire household would still be able to hear the conversation.

Carlisle smiled half-heartedly at my attempt to lighten the dismal mood. "Well, Bella…" he started. He seemed to be struggling with his words. "I- I went to check on Charlie today…" My dead heart sank like iron in water. No. It couldn't be. No… "I was supposed to redress the wounds on his face. When I removed the dirty gauze, however… his eyes were open." I shuddered. I could never be a doctor. "He- he seemed to know what had happened to him, the poor man. He was trembling head to foot. He grabbed my wrist while I was unwrapping the rest of his head. If it were anyone else, they wouldn't have been able to understand what he was saying, his lips were so mangled… but… he told me to tell you that he loves you. And he's proud of you." My eyes were swimming in tears. One leaked out of my eye and trailed down my porcelain cheek. I took a shuddering breath – I knew what was coming next. "He's… passed, Bella. He's gone. I'm… very sorry…" I didn't know what else he said. I blocked it out. All I knew was that I was the world's worst daughter. If I'd been there… if I'd been in the house with Charlie, this wouldn't have happened. I could have saved him. I could have kept him alive. And I hadn't even gone to visit him in the hospital – not once! Granted, it probably would have been useless, as he was unconscious. But perhaps the sound of my voice could have helped him heal.

My eyes were itching like they had poison ivy. The tears flowed relentlessly down my face, dripping from my chin. My crying had always been a peculiar feat about my immortal self. For reasons unknown, my tear ducts had not been transformed with the rest of me during _both_ of my transformations. Edward had a theory. He liked to think that the tears are attached to the soul, and seeing as my soul could never fully be taken away, neither could my ability to cry. I always rolled my eyes and scoffed at him, but secretly I wondered if he was right.

I blinked away the tears that were blurring my perfect vision and suddenly realized that there were four pairs of hands holding me steady. Without realizing it, I had begun to writhe and thrash at Carlisle, screaming at him all the while. He didn't look mad – on the contrary, he looked very, _very_ sad. Edward was crooning something in my ear, but I paid him little attention. I was on a one-track mind, and my screaming was unyielding. I didn't even know for sure what I was shrieking – something about "not fair" and "lying". I vaguely realized that I was being ridiculously over dramatic. I should calm down and take a few deep breaths. I'd known when I made the choice to transform in the first place that one day Charlie would die and I'd have to deal with it – I just hadn't expected it to be such a brutal ending. My calm, inner instincts finally won out over my hysterical pleas for my father. I abruptly ended my violent kicking and screaming and let the four pairs of hands restrain me without a word. I simply cried, watched my teardrops hit the linoleum, and listened to the nearly silent _pat_ that each of them made as they splattered onto the floorboards.

"That's better, Bella. Just calm down. It'll be alright…" Edward murmured in my ear. I felt his hand rubbing my back gently. "You're fine… you'll be fine…" He started to hum my lullaby.

"I need to go for a walk." Had those words come from me? I hadn't felt myself saying them… but I did find them to be true. A walk would be nice… relaxing… Edward looked to Carlisle anxiously. I didn't blame him – I wouldn't want to let _him_ go off on _his_ own after a tantrum as intense as that. Carlisle looked apprehensive, also.

"I don't know that you should go off on your lonesome just yet, Bella…"

I was about to protest when a soft voice came from the front hallway that I had moved away from in my fit. "I'll go with her."

Raychel stepped out from the shadowy corner, looking hesitantly at me. _She_ wasn't even sure she wanted to go along with a psychopath.

Carlisle looked at her appreciatively and nodded. "Just a short walk, then. Come back within the hour, please." Raychel bobbed her head in agreement and opened the door, beckoning for me to join her. I was at the door in a flash, letting the cool, night breeze lift my hair up off of my face.

We walked in silence for a long time. Raychel was quiet, and for that I was grateful. She was respecting my need for going on the walk in the first place – uninterrupted thinking.

A werewolf. A werewolf had killed Charlie. A werewolf – one of those to whom Jacob had returned. One of those that he considered his brother. A werewolf. The urge to set my walk in the direction of La Push became overbearing. I would sink my teeth into every last stinking one of those God forsaken wolves. I would rip them all to shreds – as they had ripped my father to shreds. An eye for an eye seemed to be the right punishment. My pace increased, as did my anger, as I started to head towards La Push.

"Where are you going?" Raychel's tone was knowing and exasperated as she positioned herself in front of me, holding my shoulders at arms' length.

I gritted my teeth and put my hands to her wrists to push her away. "To get some Goddamned revenge, that's where." My words were distorted in my ferocity and were nearly indecipherable. But Raychel seemed to understand.

"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind," she chanted in an annoyingly pleasant singsong voice.

"I don't care," I growled. My voice was so gruff and boyish in comparison to her high-pitched, girlish tone.

"Bella, listen," Raychel began. Her expression was very rational and she seemed to know exactly what she was talking about as she continued. "If you go waltzing off to La Push with me in tow and bad intentions, we will not make it out of there alive. Not that we're all that alive to begin with… but you catch my drift. It won't take this werewolf pack long to figure that there are vampires on their land and they'll come bounding up to us. You'll ask which one of them did it, they'll deny everything, and you'll lunge at the nearest one. Meanwhile, the other werewolves will split up – two will go after me, and the other two will finish you off. Jacob wouldn't be involved with it, of course. He still can't morph at will, so he wouldn't even know we were around. It would be one thing if the rest of your family was with us… but they're not. It's just you and me, and that won't be good enough."

Her words – as much as I hated to admit it – were one hundred percent true. Going to La Push now would be a suicide attempt. I groaned and crumpled to the ground. Lying on my back, I stared up at the sky. The clouds were blocking out any stars and the moon, making the sky completely and utterly black. I could only barely feel the misting precipitation dampening my face, my hair, my clothes… it didn't matter. I didn't care if I got wet.

"I remember when my mother died." Her voice was so soft, so fragile. I had grown used to the almost silent sound, but I still found it unsettling. "She'd been diagnosed long before I was transformed. Leukemia." She huffed a disbelieving, sad laugh. "She had chemo treatments and all that, but nothing helped. We could all see she was going to die. I just… thought I'd see her die before I died myself…" There was a moment of silence before Raychel continued. "She was so beautiful, too. It was such an upsetting loss. I couldn't even say goodbye – I was supposed to be dead at the time. I watched her breath her last breath from outside a hospital window. I listened to her heart slow. It was… the hardest thing I've ever had to watch…" I looked over to Raychel's face. Ancient grief was etched in every line of her frown. I tried to imagine watching Renée die. I quickly pushed that excruciatingly painful thought away.

"The point of my rambling tale is," Raychel half-smiled, "I got over it. I mean, not really, ever, completely, _over_-over it. But I survived. And you will, too. It will take time and patience, but you'll be alright, too."

I looked at the young girl beside me. Her wide eyes were fixed on my face, and I found myself smiling appreciatively at her. Despite the fact that Jacob wanted her and the fact that Edward could not read her mind, I was really beginning to like Raychel. "Thank you," I whispered.

"Don't mention it." She smiled benignly. I smiled back.

I stood up, stretching unnecessarily. I frowned down at my pants – they were wet with the moisture from the grass. "We should head back, I suppose." I was slightly startled to find that the tears had stopped. I could feel the salty concoction dried to my cheeks, but the tears were no longer falling.

"Yeah, Carlisle will be getting worried…" Raychel stated, also standing. She really was a beautiful girl, I observed as her hair flowed around her face and she looked up to the sky. Jacob was lucky to have her – and I should've been happy for him all along.

We sprinted back to the accommodation so as not to send poor Edward into a spasm of worry, giggling about how he might've reacted if we _had_ gone to straight to La Push.

I guess none of the Cullens were expecting me to come in the front door smiling, because all their eyes betrayed the utter surprise they attempted to hide as Raychel and I stepped across the threshold.

"You're feeling alright, Bella?" Edward eyed me warily.

I smiled at him and pushed myself into his arms, snuggling against his chest. "I'm feeling better…"

He kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair. "Good. You scared me for a moment, there."

"I'm sorry." I felt him snort a quiet laugh through his nose. "Can we go to La Push now?" I asked. Edward's arms stiffened around me.

"Why?"

"To talk to Jacob, of course."

He seemed to relax, slightly. "Oh. Well. I suppose we could…"

I promptly released myself from his arms and took his hand in mine, leading him towards the doorway. "Are you all still coming?" I brightly asked the surrounding couples and Raychel. Raychel beamed and skipped to my side, as did Alice. Jasper grudgingly followed her, and Emmett and Rosalie slipped out behind them.

"Call if you need us!" I heard Esme shout from the attic which she was spending her second day cleaning.

I wondered how on earth we were going to fit seven vampires into the Volvo. It was actually quite easy when Alice suggested she sit on Jasper's lap and Rosalie sat on Emmett's. I sat in the front with Edward and Raychel sat in the middle of the back seat with the couples piled on top of each other on either side of her. I smiled good-naturedly at them all, laughing at the intimidated look on Raychel's face. Every time Edward spun around a corner it was like the leaning tower of Pisa back there.

The car slowed to a stop before we crossed the border to La Push. Edward turned to look at me seriously. "Are you sure you want to cross this border, Bella? There's no telling what the consequences will be – Alice can't see the wolves, remember?"

I nodded. "I'm sure, Edward. Jacob needs to see reason."

Edward nodded grimly and pushed the gas pedal down slightly, causing the car to creep slowly across the invisible line that the brown and white "Welcome to the Quileute's La Push Reservation" sign signified.

It was eerie; there was no doubt about that. The Volvo crept slowly along the dirt road – very slowly for Edward's usual type of driving. I was half expecting to see yellow eyes reflected back from the shadows of the surrounding forest. I waited, anticipating an attack. I was utterly surprised when we reached Billy's house without meeting one werewolf along the way.

Edward put the car in park outside the little cottage that had grown to be my second home nearly twelve years ago. I looked up and saw a light on. Of course Jacob is awake, I reminded myself, he's not _just_ a werewolf anymore…

"Oh my… God," Edward muttered. His face was a mixed expression of concentration and shock.

"What?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

Edward merely shook his head and opened his door to get out. I would have followed suite but Edward beat me to it, opening my door for me in silence. The others climbed out as well. Raychel was the first to smell it. "Wh- what's that smell?" I took a whiff of the air and realized that there was a pungent scent drifting through the night breeze. I would have gagged if I'd had any saliva to gag on. It was, without a doubt, the worst stench I'd ever had the misfortune of breathing in.

Edward was staring at the house grimly. "Werewolf blood."

I held my gasp in and started up the walkway to the door.

A thousand images played in my head. Jacob – dead. The pack – also dead. Some manic vampire standing in the corner, having killed them all. A thousand images flashed across my mind, but not one of them prepared me for what I would see when I opened Jacob's front door.

* * *

**Many thanks go to t3hg0d355 for this one.**

"Every time Edward spun around a corner it was like the leaning tower of Pizza back there."

**It's not Pizza. It's Pisa. Boy do _I_ feel dumb! Obviously I am lacking in the world cultures department. Sorry for any confusion! Even though I think you all got what I meant... I mean, did anyone actually picture two piles of pizza leaning over Raychel? LOL, if you did... you're more imaginative than I could ever be! Hahaha!**

**Thanks, again, Devi!**

**Reviews equal awesome.**


	9. M A S S A C R E

**This plot is about to get THICK. Try to keep up. XD**

**So, there are a few rather exciting things that I would like to point out. Number one – I am a character in a fanfiction! XD False Pretense by Simply Kiwi – go check it. It's the sequel to Transparency, so you should probably read that first. Otherwise you'll be like… whaaaaat??**

**Number two – Midnight officially has more success than Moonrise. And although that's slightly saddening, it's also completely awesome! Moonrise didn't hit the one hundred review mark until after it was finished, but Midnight's already there! DO YOU KNOW HOW EXCITING THAT IS?!?! I actually have people who read Moonrise and wanted MORE! It will never cease to amaze me…**

**So this chapter is a little sad again. And it's also a little shorter than usual, but I hit my stopping place sooner than I expected to.**

**Many, many, many thank yous to Italian-swim-chick, paypay07, t3hg0dd355, Simply Kiwi, quietandclear, edardfan13, Edward-Addiction, hotlipsb, Monkey-en-TuTu, addict-4-dramatics, ridiculouskopec, not done baking, Organic Banana, Silver Butterfly07, Hotaru89, A Rose in the Night, CynicalInkSlinger, Badr, and Lily Turwaithiel. You guys are fuhreeking awesome. XD**

**So anyways, the song. It's Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park **

**NOW I COMMAND YOU TO READ!**

7. M A S S A C R E

The stench of the leaking werewolves reached a climax as the door swung open. The silent _whoosh_ of the entry way sent a concentrated wave of the reeking odor directly into my face. I could feel my eyes burning from the intensity of the scent, and I blinked rapidly to keep from tearing up. Once my eyes grew accustomed to the aroma, I stared at what the door had been hiding with a morbid sense of shock.

It was dark inside – but it didn't matter. I could see perfectly, but I wished I couldn't. It was like a battlefield. Five bodies were scattered across the small living room; all in human form, all bleeding freely. My mouth had fallen open again, but I made no move to close it. I felt myself take a shuddering breath, and I smelled something that made me clutch Edward's arm as if my life depended on it. Human blood. I could almost feel the adrenaline that would be speeding through my veins had my heart been pumping blood. A human's blood had been spilt – an innocent human. Billy? Or perhaps one of the neighbors had heard a commotion and come to investigate?

Shock was numbing my senses, so it was a moment before I realized that Edward had proceeded into the room and commenced turning the bodies over. I winced as he pulled one man's comatose shoulder to face the group – Sam Uley. Something was wrong – terribly wrong. Five dead werewolves and a dead human? But who had killed them all? Suddenly I realized that one of these bodies could well be Jacob himself. With a wild fear, I rushed to Edward's side, holding my breath and pulling the bodies over so that their faces were pointed to the ceiling. I let out a sigh of relief before quitting my breathing again – none of the russet skinned and black haired boys was Jacob.

All of them, however, held one thing in common – the area in which their skin had been pierced was charred at the edges, like it'd been burnt. I studied Sam's wounds. There was a hole in his chest with the burnt edges. Sam's heart had stopped beating, but it was obvious that the wound had been gushing before his pulse died away.

I looked at Edward in fear. "What…?" I let my voice trail. I remembered something – something from my human past. Jacob had told me that werewolves healed incredibly fast. He'd been about to cut himself and show me, but I stopped him in the nick of time. If werewolves were supposed to heal so fast, why hadn't Sam and the rest of the pack healed in time to save themselves?

Edward's face was grave, but uncaring. "A vampire's venom keeps the wound open, unable to heal. Which means" – he sighed – "a vampire did this." I moaned – I should have figured as much.

"Oh… my…" came a soft voice from behind me – I had almost forgotten the others were there.

Raychel's eyes were wide with utter astonishment, her mouth forming a perfect "o". She looked at the scene before her, taking it all in, before meeting my eyes – hers held so many questions. "What's happ-" she started to ask, but a loud crash from upstairs – from Jacob's room – stopped her short. A short moment of eye contact, and the seven of us were racing towards the staircase.

I was the first to realize that if we all burst into Jacob's room, the walls might explode. "Wait!" I whispered. Everyone stopped short and turned to look at me.

"Just… just wait here a minute…" I soothed. I chanced a glance at Edward; his face was mixed with total concentration and a wild fear. He looked at me, and his eyes showed something else… _trust_. I looked away and started to ascend, slowly, up the stairs to Jacob's room.

I heard a light _thump_ come from the opposite side of his door and, as I took the stairs one by one, the smell of human blood became stronger and stronger. I gulped – trying to swallow my fear. I heard Emmett whisper to Edward: "What's up there?" Edward muttered something that I could not comprehend. I heard Raychel gasp, and then Alice murmur something to her consolingly. I wished my hearing were more acute.

The door to Jacob's room was shut, looming over me – beckoning to me. I caught sight of my terrified face in the sheen of the doorknob. "Ridiculous… you're being ridiculous, Bella…" I breathed to myself as a louder _thump_ than the last emanated from the room. I took a deep breath and composed my face, reaching forward to twist the knob and peer into the room.

The sight would haunt me for eternity.

Billy's wheelchair lay on its side, one of its wheels spinning idly. Billy himself was on Jacob's bed. He was dead. The poor, old man's arm was sticking out at such an awkward angle and his eyes were staring blankly into space. His throat was ripped out. Blood was everywhere, staining Jacob's bed sheets – not that he used them, anymore – and his room with the tantalizing scent. I lowered my head in respect for his death and was about to turn to leave the room, when a dark figure sprang through the window and landed on the floor in front of me in a crouching position, ready to attack, its earsplitting growl surprising me.

Edward was in the room in an instant, growling back. I tried to work up a menacing snarl, but it caught in my throat and did not sound anywhere near as sinister as Edward's had.

It took me a moment to realize who the looming shadow was. I immediately ceased my pitiful growl. "Jake!" I cried, about to rush over to him. I would have if Edward hadn't caught me around my waist, still snarling.

Jacob's wicked face lightened at the sound of my voice. "Bells?" he rasped. I nodded frantically, straining against Edward's arm. "What are you doing here, Bella?" Jacob snapped, his voice gruff.

"Bringing you home! Jacob, what _happened?_" My question caught him off guard and his face became guarded again.

"Nothing," he muttered irritably.

"Don't give me that!" I snapped back. "What the hell happened here? There's been a massacre! Who's done this?" My words were fast – I was digging for answers.

"Easy, Bella…" Edward murmured, pressing his mouth to my ear, "Don't anger him…"

Jacob's answering growl was blood curdling. "_She_ never angers me! It's always _you_ and your kind!"

Some of my pride flickered in me – I _was_ Edward's kind. And who was he to talk to my husband in such a manner? It went beyond me what had gotten into Jacob – he'd kept his opinions to himself, lately, at least. I was still staring at him hard, trying to figure what had gotten into him, when I smelled it. It took a lot of willpower to keep from cringing in a mixture of disgust and fear – Jacob's werewolf side was overpowering him.

I could smell the anger coursing through him, threatening to change him. I swallowed, trying to make myself calm down – I wished Jasper were up here to help with the three of us. But to call down to the others could be lethal. It was best to just watch my step and try and calm Jacob down myself…

"Jake…" my voice was shaking, "the others… they're all dead… a vampire got to them… what happened?" Jacob's eyes flashed, and I realized, for the first time, that they were not their usual color of amber; they were instead tinted a horrifying crimson red. "Your eyes…" I gasped. That did the trick. Jacob's anger promptly vanished, only to be replaced by utter agony. His face twisted into a grief-stricken grimace, and his shoulders slumped forward in a defeated position.

"I… I couldn't let them, Bells. After what they said… and Alice's vision… I could- couldn't let them hurt you…" I felt the horror start to take over at the realization of what Jacob was trying to tell me. He… it… it was _him_. Jacob had killed his brothers… his father… He had killed _them…_ for _me…_

My voice was hard to find, but when I did my words came out in short gasps. "Are… you… _crazy?_" Edward squeezed me tighter to his side in his attempts to keep me safe, but there was no need. Jacob seemed to be broken.

"I must be…" he mumbled.

The misery that took over him after that was terrifying. A gigantic sob racked his body; shaking it so hard he fell backwards onto the bed next to his father's lifeless, bloody body. He began to wail, crying tearlessly. Through his incoherent moans, I made a few words: "What have I done? Oh, God… Dad, what have I done to you?" I was so wrapped up in my best friend's self-inflicted pain that I didn't even realize that tears were falling down my own face and Edward was tugging at my waist, whispering to me.

"Come on, Bella! We must leave! Now! Bella come on!" His words seemed to be stuck on a loop. I understood the danger that we were facing by staying here in the room with an agonized werewolf, but I just could not uproot my feet from the linoleum.

"Why did you kill Billy, Jake? Why'd you take him, too?" I found the words escaping from my mouth before I could contain them. Jacob looked up at me and I wished he hadn't. The anguish that was crawling across his face was too much. I couldn't look at him – he was truly broken.

"I couldn't… couldn't control myself… He got hurt in the fight and… his blood just… set me off…" Jacob's breathing was heavy and his eyes seemed to ask for forgiveness. I didn't understand why he was looking at me that way. I couldn't forgive him – it wasn't my place to. The fact that he'd killed Billy was insignificant to me – it was the fact that he'd lost control that I was concerned about.

"Jacob, you have to come home! You can't do this on your own. You don't want to be like the others, I know you don't! We can help you, but you've got to stay with us. Come home." I tried to make my voice soft, convincing. Jacob's eyes flickered from mine to Edward's. I inconspicuously nudged Edward's ribs – he needed to help me out, here.

Sighing, Edward agreed. "It's probably best if you return, Jacob." His name sounded strange on Edward's tongue. I'd heard it many of times, but was still unused to the inflictions that Edward put on each sound.

Jacob's eyes flickered back to mine and I worked to make them pleading. "It will be alright, Jake. Just come home." The raging battle of indecision that was taking place inside of him seemed to relax just a little bit.

"You… still… want me around?"

I nearly laughed out of relief and disbelief at his question. "Of course I want you around! Jacob, you're my _best friend_. I don't know what I'd ever do without you!" A shadow of a smile crossed Jacob's face. "Now, come on. There's someone waiting for you downstairs."

Curiosity lightened Jacob's dark expression further, and he followed Edward, who followed me, down the stairs. When we reached the landing, I had barely set foot on the floor before a blur of white and black shot by me.

"Oh, Jacob!" Raychel cried, throwing her arms around Jacob's neck. Taken aback, Jacob quietly wrapped his own arms around Raychel's waist. "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again! You had me worried sick! I thought a vampire got you…"

"I'm sorry," Jacob murmured in her ear. "I won't leave again."

Their embrace was lasting, and I turned into Edward to take _him_ in _my_ arms. Peeking over his shoulder, I saw Jasper's hand entwined with Alice's, her head resting on his shoulder as she smiled contentedly at the reunion of the couple. I looked over to Emmett and Rosalie – ready to grimace if they were making out – and was met with a surprising sight. Emmett looked very focused.

Rosalie had raised an eyebrow at her husband, but even as she glared at him, horrified recognition crept across his face. Edward snapped around, looking wildly at his brother. The movement snapped the couples under the influence of love out of it, and seven pairs of eyes turned to Edward.

"You're sure? You're absolutely positive?" Edward seemed to be speaking with unnecessary clarity.

"Yes." Emmett's voice was barely audible.

Rosalie's annoyance was immediately apparent. "What? Stop mind reading, Edward! We _all_ like to know what's happening." The brothers didn't look her way, they simply kept communicating by telepathic means. She sighed, impatiently. "Can we at least leave this house? I don't think I'll ever be able to wash the smell of werewolf blood out of my hair… and I may as well burn these clothes…" Her statement made Emmett turn his attention to her, finally.

"Don't play with fire, Rose."

Rolling her eyes, she muttered, "It's an expression…"

"Alright, we'll go, then." Edward announced, heading towards the front door. I hurried after him.

"What… what _was_ all that?" I asked under my breath. We were fairly far in front of the others, and I hoped that maybe now I could pry some information from Edward.

"One moment," he muttered back, opening my door for me. I had barely sat down when he got into the driver's seat. The other six vampires were still coming across the lawn. "Emmett recognized Raychel, he just couldn't put his finger on where from," Edward began, speaking so quickly that it didn't look like he was speaking at all. Despite the glass windows and metal doors, I knew that if Edward wasn't keeping his voice as soft as he was, the others would hear. "He just figured it out."

I turned from looking out the windshield to meet Edward's eyes. Something was wrong. He was too serious. "Emmett was the one that bit her."


	10. S E C R E T S

**AT LAST! I'm updating!**

**I feel like I haven't given you guys anything in _ages_ when it's only been a couple of days. I hit the worst writer's block imaginable, because I knew where I wanted to go with the story, just not with the chapter. So, as with any writer's block, I drowned it out with some much needed Bella/Edward fluff. :) And I'll bet you're all real excited now.**

**Of course, this chapter _does_ have a point. But it's closer to the end. It's mostly just fluff. **

**So I really enjoyed writing it, in the end. After all the headaches and tears of frustration and deletion of pages worth of material. I mean, in the words of my good friend, Kiwi,** **"I figured that a break from the drama was pretty important, considering the fact that after this it is going to pick up in overdrive. XD"**

**Really, it is.**

**SO! I MUST THANK PEOPLE!**

**Thank you BellyGnomes, HeartlessMagic, A Rose in the Night, hotlipsb, quietandclear, Monkey-en-TuTu, Lexxi2292, Simply Kiwi, of course, ridiculouskopec, paypay07, LivinInTwilight, Edward-Addiction, passionate09, NotMixedEqually, Italian-swim-chick, TKxxx, and i.love.oreos (I'm glad to hear from you, again!!).**

**I'm sorry that I don't personally reply to all of your reviews - but at the end of the day, I really just don't have the time or energy. And besides, they'd stop getting original. They'd just be, LOL, glad you liked/read it! Keep reading! --Mel" and who wants to read that?**

**So, this chapter's song is My Dear by New Years Day. Good band. An author named emilie whoa mentioned them in one of her stories, and I immediately looked them up. They've very quickly moved to my favorites. XD**

**So, I probably shouldn't keep you waiting any longer. I mean, it's been, what? Only three days?? Well... sheesh. Maybe I _shouldn't_ post this chapter yet. XD**

**Like I have the self-restraint.**

8. S E C R E T S

"But…" I started, confused. It didn't make sense, no sense at all. Emmett had only lost control twice before, according to Edward. Both times… the bloodlust had been to the same power that mine contained for Edward; both times they'd been his singers. "That means… that… _la tua cantante?_" I whispered. Edward merely nodded as the remaining vampires slid into the backseat of the vehicle. I chanced a glance at my brother in the rearview mirror.

Rosalie was murmuring something softly in his ear, stroking his chest lovingly. Emmett seemed to be paying her no attention whatsoever. His brow was furrowed in utter concentration and his eyes were focused outside the window on something that only he could see – his vague memories. The remaining scraps of whatever he could remember about that night years ago.

Memories like that were difficult to recall, which explained why Emmett had not recognized Raychel sooner. When we lost control, gave ourselves up to our instincts, the memories were but a whirlwind of images and sounds – an undecipherable blur.

I felt for Emmett. He must have been feeling very guilty right now. He'd her Raychel's sob story and now he knew he was the one responsible for her pain – he was the one who'd damned her.

We drove in silence and it was growing more and more tense. The hum of the Volvo's engine was the only thing to be heard. I internally thanked Edward as he switched on the radio, also aware of the awkward silence.

The station came on low volume, but Alice immediately exclaimed, "Turn it up!"

Edward obliged with a grave face as the radio announcer's voice grew louder.

"… sadder note: another attack has occurred. Forks' very own Angela Cheney, mother of two, was found dead by her husband when he returned from work in the bed the two of them shared. Again, not much was inferred from the autopsy, as there was too much damage done to the corpse…" Edward immediately switched off the radio.

"Alice?" He asked, heaving a weary sigh.

I didn't understand. Why was my angel in distress? He had never made friends with those in Forks High School – Angela had been _my _friend. And though I was sorry to hear of her death, it, in no way, affected us.

Oh, how wrong I was.

I took Edward's hand and squeezed it gently, reassuring him. His eyes slid to mine, and he smiled weakly. I noticed that the slight grin did not reach his eyes, which were dark with emotion. Worry, anger, sadness… but above all, I noticed the _fear_ in those deep, wise eyes.

"I don't see anything more, Edward. Maybe whoever's attacking is moving on…"

Edward's jaw clenched and the hand that was on the steering wheel tightened. Other than those two movements indicating stress, his reaction was unreadable.

"Is it the vampire again?" I voiced. Again, Edward's eyes flashed to mine, more fear breaking through his usually calm façade.

"It certainly sounds like it. I can't be sure, of course. But there seems to be a pattern growing – all the victims have been mothers. It doesn't exactly strike me as coincidence. There have been three attacks in the last week-"

"Wait… four. As of Saturday," Alice grimly put in. "Also a mother of two."

I heard Edward's teeth clench together. "Something's not right…" he muttered under his breath.

Edward's angst was making me nervous. He was usually very confident when it came to matters like these – when other covens passed through Forks – with his family behind him. But, as he squeezed my hand more tightly, something seemed to be troubling him on deeper levels than he was letting on.

We drove on in silence, but it wasn't the same tense, awkward silence that had followed the outburst between Edward and Emmett. It was a contemplative quiet – we were all lost in our own current of thoughts.

It seemed to take forever to get to the Cullens' house. Edward parked the car and the eight of us slipped out into the darkness. I sighed in relief at Jacob's willingness to come back. I had hoped there wouldn't be a struggle. I watched his and Raychel's back retreating to the house with absolutely no trace of the jealousy I had first encountered at her arrival. Despite all my initial feelings of annoyance and suspicion, I truly liked her. And I really liked Jacob's eyes when they fell on her. He loved her. And, therefore, I loved her.

It was a moment before I realized that Edward and I were not walking with the others towards the house. I cocked an eyebrow inquisitively in his direction. The right side of his mouth flicked up into a slight smile.

"Walk with me?" he asked, offering me his hand.

I gladly took it in my own and allowed him to lead me into the dense forest that surrounded his house.

He was silent for a while before he seemed to make a decision. "Everything's been a little… topsy-turvy since we returned, hasn't it?"

I snorted. "_That's_ and understatement."

Edward's returned smile was bleak. "I want you to know, I am truly sorry for your loss. Charlie was a great man – a wonderful father. He didn't deserve that kind of an end."

Tears prickled at my eyes, again. I blinked them back, furiously. I hadn't expected that. It seemed like the news of Charlie's death had been broken weeks ago, not mere hours.

"It's… alright… it was going to happen sooner or later…" I mumbled, keeping my focus on the ground.

"Yes, but it shouldn't have happened like _that_. I suppose we can feel relieved that vengeance was brought to the perpetrator, though, can't we?" Edward's tone was very austere. It made me wonder – did he still think it had been Jacob that had attacked my father? I immediately brushed the thought away. Surely Edward believed him? After everything that had happened? He must believe Jacob, now. Jacob had gone and killed his pack so that they wouldn't hurt me physically, and he, of all people, knew what I was like when I was hurt emotionally. He would never do that to me, and Edward knew that.

"Yes," I could hear the sharpness of my tone. "It does feel good to know that he's been avenged, at least." But something in me didn't feel right. _Had_ he been avenged? Again, I pushed the doubt away instantly.

"Bella… I… I wanted to express a concern of mine with you before I bring it to the attention of the rest of the family."

I narrowed my eyes; sure that Edward was about to start ranting and raving about Jacob. I waited for him to continue, but when he didn't, I figured he must need some prompting. "Yes?"

"Well… ever since Raychel's been in town, there's been a lot of mayhem. I just… wanted to know what your views were. You seem to have bonded with her more than any of us, so I figured that you would know the most about her. Her personality."

I blinked in surprise. Raychel? She was the furthest thing from my mind. Still bewildered, I asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Do you know anything about her past?" He fired the first question almost as soon as I'd finished talking.

"Uh, no more than you do. And, that, her mother died of leukemia. She told me that last night…"

Edward's expression was thoughtful. "Did she say much about her mother?"

"Just that it was an unfortunate loss," I shrugged. "She said she was a wonderful person, and that she watched her die through a hospital window. She said she had wished she could say goodbye – but she was supposed to be dead, so she couldn't." It didn't seem like that important of information to me, but Edward was contemplative.

It struck me then like a wrecking ball – Edward suspected she was the one killing the mothers. "Edward, she's an animal drinker. She's never spilt human blood, she told us that herself. For heaven's sake, look at her eyes! They're a rich caramel color, just like all of ours!"

Edward glanced over his shoulder. "I know, I know… I just… I'm trying to figure things out, all right? She seemed like a good scapegoat, but you're right. Innocent until proven guilty."

I calculated his expression for a moment. Upon deciding he was sincerely sorry, I nodded once, curtly. "She's really not so bad, you know. She had a… a rough start," I said, shuddering. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to wake up from transforming in a coffin, with no one there to help me. But I also felt guilty for saying it. It put the earlier focus back onto Emmett, if not for whom, she never would have been damned to this fate.

Edward – although he could not – seemed to read my mind. "It wasn't his fault, Bella," his velvet voice was curt with a defensive air to it for his brother. "It could have happened to any of us. It _almost_ happened to me – to _you_."

"I know! I don't blame Emmett at all!" My voice was getting louder as we advanced further into the trees. "I just meant she had to deal with what she was all on her own. She didn't have a family behind her."

"Neither did Alice," he pointed out.

"Exactly. Alice turned out just fine, didn't she? Why wouldn't Raychel?"

He sighed in defeat. I caught a whiff of his breath and took extra caution not to trip over the underbrush of the forest as my legs went to jelly. "I know. You're right. I'm just… being a hard judge, I suppose. It's just, ever since _James_ I'm finding it hard to trust other vampires."

I bit my lip. Well, that was definitely something I hadn't thought about. But that was different. I'd known from the beginning that I shouldn't trust James, but Raychel was different. I hadn't trusted her at first, and now, as I learned more about her, she was quickly becoming like a sister to me. Just like Jacob was with Alice…

"It's alright, Edward. I understand where you're coming from all too well. But I really think Raychel is all right. Really." I beamed up at him and he smiled back.

"On a lighter note," his tone became less somber, and I was glad for the mood change. "You'll never guess whose baby Carlisle delivered the other day." His grin gradually became more prominent. Obviously there was some kind of joke here that I was about to get…

"Whose?" I wondered, honestly bemused.

His chuckle was beautiful. "Jessica _Newton's_."

I tried to stop the snort that followed, but I absolutely could not. I felt the smile that had split across my face stretch even wider, and the snort became a loud string of laughter. "They got _married?_" I asked, disbelievingly, through gasps of mirth.

Edward smiled at my smile. "Apparently. But, then again, we did, too, didn't we?"

"Yeah," I giggled, "but that's _different_. We actually _liked_ each other in high school. Jessica Stanley and Mike Newton? Get out of town…"

Edward stopped walking and pulled me against his chest; still holding true to the most beautiful crooked smile I'd ever seen. Just like in high school. "We more than liked each other, Bella," he muttered, looking deeply into my eyes. "They're brown, again. I haven't seen them turn brown in a while…"

If my cheeks could have flushed cherry red, I was absolutely certain that they would have. "Well, I haven't felt this _good_ in a while."

Edward's smile faltered slightly. "I'm sorry to hear that. But, I suppose that under the circumstances, you had a right to not feel good."

"I suppose," I mocked, teasingly. I reached a hand up and rested it on his cheek. He turned his face to the side and pressed his perfect lips against my palm for a moment before looking back into my eyes.

"I am, however, quite glad that you are feeling good now."

"Oh, well, so am I." I still could not mimic his formal diction. I felt rather stupid attempting to.

Edward removed one of his arms from around my waist to put one of his hands on mine. "You know I love you, correct?"

"I know."

"Good, because I do. With everything I've in me. I love you, Isabella Cullen."

My smile grew at the sound of my new last name rolling off of Edward's flawless tongue in his velvety soft voice. "And I love you, Edward Cullen." I had to admit, the surname sounded much less impressive coming out in _my_ tone.

He leaned his face towards me, letting his forehead rest against mine. His lips were so close I could almost taste them. "I know," he sighed, right as I was taking a slow, steadying breath inward.

Oh. It was on.

He was trying to dazzle me! And, unsurprisingly, it was working. I used what little self-restraint I contained to keep myself from throwing myself at his mouth. If he wanted to play, I was game.

"I know you know," I purred. My words were much less seductive than my voice. "But it's always nice to hear it, right?"

I could feel him smiling. "You have no idea exactly _how_ nice."

"Don't I?"

I could feel my senses slipping, my mouth unconsciously drifting upward toward his…

"No," was the only word he uttered before he crushed his lips to mine.

They worked fiercely, relentlessly, against my own. It felt like hours that we stood there in our secluded fortress of trees, blatantly making out. Even after all this time, I could never quite get over the miraculous feeling that overtook me when he kissed me. A hitch behind my navel area made me feel like I was going down the first drop on a roller coaster. The closest thing I would ever again have to feeling butterflies in my stomach.

And I was still not used to not having to hold back. When the blood had been rushing through my veins, my heart rate would dramatically increase and the bloodlust would reach an irresistible point for Edward, and we would have to stop kissing. Now that there was no risk of him accidentally killing me, the friction between our lips was enough to start a fire. It was like every tidbit of passion, love, lust, and craving that I had ever felt had been bottled up inside of me, waiting for the moment that my lips made contact with _his_.

When Edward finally pulled away from me and I opened my eyes, I could see that hours really _had_ passed. The light underneath the thick canopy of trees was pale – it was daytime.

It took me a moment to realize that I was panting, and I promptly took control of my breathing. Edward, to my slight surprise, did the same.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "Did- did you want to hunt today?"

I tucked my hair behind my ear and smiled. "Okay."

He took my hand in his and we went searching for something to fulfill our needs.

We reached the house around five that evening. After hunting, Edward's eyes had become a brilliant liquid topaz, but mine remained chocolate brown. There was no use in even attempting to enter the house undetected, and, sure enough, as the door swung open, Alice was waiting for us at the bottom of the staircase.

"Finally," she whispered. It seemed she'd been waiting for a while.

Before Edward and I had taken two steps into the accommodation, Alice had grabbed my arm and was whirling the two of us around and back down the porch.

About halfway across the lawn, she spoke. "What happened last night?" she snapped, somewhat irritably. Alice truly had no patience. "What did Emmett tell you?"

Edward spoke slowly, as if to draw out the suspense on purpose. "Emmett… well, he sort of had an epiphany last night. You should have heard what was going on in his head…" he paused to chuckle. Alice's toe began to tap the ground at lightening speed. "He realized where he recognized Raychel from." He stopped dramatically. I winced as Alice nearly exploded from the anticipation.

"_And?!_" she hissed.

"Emmett was the one who bit her."

The shock that coated Alice's pixie-like face was almost humorous. "Oh… my… _God_… Does… does _she_ know?"

It baffled me why Alice was asking Edward this – he could not read Raychel's mind.

"Well, it doesn't _seem_ as though she's aware of it. But, obviously, I can't be one hundred percent sure.

"Well, if she doesn't," Alice started, "she can _not_ find out."

My eyebrows knitted together in curiosity. "Why not?" Alice looked down at her feet and kicked the ground. I heard her mumble something, but I could not tell what she'd said. "Alice, why? What would happen?"

I knew Alice could not see Raychel, just as Edward could not hear her. So what on earth could she have seen?

"I had a vision of Jacob and you talking… I don't know exactly what was said, it was still blurry. But it was something about Raychel, and Jacob was very sad. It… it sounded like she'd _left_."

_Left?_ I groaned. If Raychel left… that would be very, very bad. Primarily for Jake, and then, in turn, for the rest of the Cullens. If Raychel left, Jacob could end up the same way _I'd_ ended up when Edward had left me so many years ago. I shuddered at the memory. I didn't like to revisit _that_ one. The one where I was nothing but a broken, empty waste of space – of air – and I had no one except Jacob. Granted, _I_ would be there for _him_ this time, but it wouldn't be the same. I'd have someone and he wouldn't. The last time, neither of us had had anyone. It wouldn't be the same. Raychel couldn't leave. I wanted Jacob to be as happy as he was now for the rest of eternity.

"Make sure she doesn't find out," I stated, somewhat calmly. I looked up from my feet and into Alice's bright, butterscotch eyes. "It is imperative that Raychel does not find out about this."

Almost as soon as I said the words, I regretted them. I heard a twig break under the weight of a foot come from behind me and the three of us simultaneously whipped around to face the mouth of the dark forest. Raychel slowly emerged from the twiggy entrance.

Her wide, ochre eyes were pained and her mouth was set in a deep frown. "Find out about what, Bella?" The pain in her voice was too much. Utter betrayal screamed at me from her soft, musical tone. "What are you guys keeping from me?" she asked, and the torment in her voice nearly ripped my heart right out.


	11. J A S P E R

**Ahhh, it's sooo nice to be able to write without writer's block. After the last chapter, I wasn't sure how this one was gonna go, but, as you can see, I'm finished with it already:)**

**I wasn't sure about putting this here, because I didn't want to give away the chapter... but I kind of have to.**

**The only thing I knew for sure about Jasper's past was that he was transformed somewhere in the sixteen-hundreds. So if this is innacurate, _please_ don't bug me about it. I'm sorry, but my mother's a nazi about the computer and sets time restrictions on the internet, so I was writing this around 9pm-12am last night with no internet references to Jasper's past. So this will be _my_ take on things, and _mine_ alone.**

**Besides, the guy who does it is _my_ character.**

**So, anyways. Thank you sooooo much for the reviews, guys! They're absolutely incredible. :) Thanks Simply Kiwi!, A Rose in the Night, sportzytwigirl, Monkey-en-TuTu, paypay07, Badr, not done baking, Italian-swim-chick, ridiculouskopec, "Tabbicat", BellyGnomes (your pen name makes me laugh!), quietandclear, "Dani", Edward-Addiction, and Heartless Magic, of course. **

**You guys are my favorites. XD**

**So the song for this chapter is Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol.**

**And, so, I demand you to read and review the following chapter!**

**...Please? XD**

**-------------------------  
UPDATE:**

**Sorry for the random update. There were just a few typos that were driving me wildly insane, so I went and fixed them. There's no difference in the plot, though, so you don't have to reread the chapter.**

**Thanks, again, for the reviews!!  
--Mel**

9. J A S P E R

It felt like one of those times where everything just came crashing down onto my shoulders. Like all the secrets, lies, and cover-ups that had been flying around for the past few weeks were piling up right over my head, like an enormous water balloon. And that balloon had reached its limit. I could almost feel the barrier of thin plastic snap and the water fall over me, drenching me.

"I-" I started, stumbling for words, wildly raking my brain for a lie to come up with. "I- nothing. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Raychel's wide eyes narrowed slightly. "If it's nothing, then why can't I know?" Her voice mirrored the betrayal that smothered her face. I also heard a tinge of anger growing somewhere in the back of her tone.

"Be- because…" I stuttered, inconspicuously stepping on Edward's toes, silently begging him and Alice for help.

"We…" Edward paused, thinking quickly. "We didn't want you to know that… that Esme was going to buy you your very own car." I resisted the urge to look at him incredulously. Raychel wasn't _stupid_. There was no way she'd fall for that. Was that _really_ the best Edward could come up with?

"You're lying," she whispered. I felt my heart sink a few more inches downward. "Why are you lying? Stop lying!" Her pained face was beginning to cause _me_ pain.

"What's going on?" All three of our heads snapped in the direction of the house. Jasper came striding out, looking anxiously from face to face, taking in the panic, frustration, anger, and hurt that flowed through the air towards him.

"They're hiding something from me! What are you hiding from me?" Her question was taking more of a demanding tone. I vaguely realized that the wind was picking up, thunder rumbling in the distance.

My mind was racing in desperate attempts to think of an excuse. I didn't care what I told her, but I could _not_ let her know that Emmett was the one who had changed her – the one who had taken away her humanity.

And, suddenly, it struck me like a lightening bolt. The perfect excuse was sitting right there in front of me.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" I soothed. "We – _I_ – didn't want you to know my… my power." I could feel Edward's eyes on the back of my head, but I kept going. "I didn't want you to ask me to use it. It takes a lot out of me to make it work, and often times there's absolutely no reward. It just makes the others sad and it makes me sad, as well. So, if I tell you, will you promise me you won't make me use it? All it's good for is a little heartbreak." I looked up from my feet – now that the lie was over, I didn't think I'd have a problem with it being revealed in my face.

I looked into Raychel's hard, golden eyes. She glared at me for a moment, boring her own eyes into mine. I willed myself to look pained – sincere – anything but guilty. Finally, her eyes softened.

"All right," she sighed, "I trust you. I will not make you use your power on me." The softness was replaced immediately by curiosity.

"Okay. Well, when I touch you, I can see your-"

The sky lit up as lightening touched the ground, not thirty feet from where we were standing, shortly followed by a deafening crack of thunder that cut me off.

"Bella!" Alice shouted over the noise, "Can we take this conversation inside? I don't really feel like being electrocuted today!"

Gusts of wind blew past my face, making my hair swirl around my head maniacally. I grinned through the strands of brown that were obscuring my vision and yelled, "Let's!" over the whirling winds and the four of us raced to the mansion to take cover from the positively frightening hurricane that seemed to be blowing in from the ocean.

Inside the house, everything was so much safer. The wind howled outside the window, sending leaves and twigs battering against the glass, but I had no fear of being hit by lightening. Not that I truly had a reason to fear in the first place – I was a vampire, not much could kill me – but I, also, did not feel like being electrocuted today.

"You were saying?" Raychel prompted almost as soon as we'd stepped over the threshold. I made my way over to the living room sofa, taking my sweet time. Raychel squeezed some of the moisture out of her thick, black locks as she came to stand in front of me.

"I can see your human life. Right up until your transformation. And I can make you see it, as well. And… the reason I don't want you to see your own, is because I don't think _I'd_ be able to handle it…" I was making this up as I went along, now. "Because you're already like a sister to me. And I don't want to watch you get hurt." The last part was true enough - Raychel really had become like family to me. But had my half-truth convinced her?

Comprehension seemed to dawn on her face, and then, sympathy. "Aw, Bella!" she cried, throwing her arms around my neck. I nearly sighed in relief. Alice gave me a quick thumbs-up, and I returned it behind Raychel's back. "You know, I see you as a sister, too! I've seen you like that since before I even _met_ you. I knew, from what Jacob said, that we would get along just fine, and now look at us!" She smiled, pulling away from the embrace. The corners of my mouth effortlessly flicked upward in a relieved grin. She'd bought it. Oh, thank God!

"Actually, Bella, there's something I wanted to ask you…" muttered Jasper. I'd almost forgotten he was there, but I turned to stare at him, incredulously. He was looking at the linoleum floor, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Was he about to ask me what I thought he was about to ask me?

Last month when the Cullens had discovered my gift, it had only been a matter of time before they started queuing up to ask me if they could see _their_ human lives. Of course I hadn't denied any of them, even though I felt I should have – there was quite a bit of gore in some of their dooms. But there were two under the roof that had _not_ asked me to see their human lives – Jacob, and Jasper. Jacob was easy enough to understand in that department – he was _still_ trying to come to terms that the family he was now _living_ with had killed every last one of his brothers and, inexplicably, changed him into half a vampire, half a werewolf. It would have been to hard for him to have to watch his brothers die that fateful night and remain under the same roof of the Cullens. But Jasper, on the other hand, he'd come from a "_very_ different family" according to Edward. Perhaps Jasper didn't _want_ to relive coming across said family. I thought it was admirable of him to want to block that part of his life out completely, but now it looked as though, at the mentioning of my gift, he was ready to face his past.

I waited for him to ask, letting my eyes slip first to Edward's – whose were curious – and then to Alice's – whose were shining with anticipation and anxiety.

Jasper looked up from the floor to meet my eyes. At first, there was merely apprehension. But as he looked into the pit of me, the apprehension became preparation, determination, and _trust_.

"I thin– I _am_ ready to see my past."

I had been expecting the words, so resisting the gasp was easier for me than it was for Emmett, Esme, Rosalie, and Carlisle, all of whom gasped and came rushing into the living room from opposite ends of the house. Jasper's jaw clenched and he fixed his gaze on the floor again.

Esme tentatively stepped forward and patted Jasper's shoulder consolingly. I worked hard to control the emotion I was feeling now so that Jasper would continue to trust me with the information that was about to be unveiled, but it was hard as my heart reached out to him. I'd always liked Jasper. Maybe not as much as I liked Alice or Emmett, and certainly not as much as Edward, but I had always been very fond of him. He'd been very helpful in the hotel room, years and years ago, when what I needed was to be calm and that simply could _not_ be accomplished on my own.

As fond of Jasper as I was, I would've had to have been completely oblivious not to realize that he felt like an outsider in this family. Though he had come far with his willpower over the years, Jasper's restraint to the smell of humans was still weaker than his brothers' and sisters'. Perhaps that was why he was about to entrust _me_ with this secret of his past, because I was also new to this lifestyle. And though I was coping with it well – better than Jasper, anyway – it was still a strain for me, too, to be around humans. Perhaps it was this mere string that bonded us together that made him feel like less of an outsider with me in the family. Whatever the matter, Jasper was ready to see for himself what had happened the night he was changed.

"Are you sure, Jazz?" Alice asked. All eyes flashed to her uncertain face. "You'll be alright?" Clenching his jaw, Jasper nodded once.

"I can do this, Alice. I _have_ to." And for the first time, uncertainty flickered across his face. Although his expression was uncertain, his eyes were determined.

"Okay…" I said, cautiously stepping forward. When I reached out to grasp his hand, however, he pulled away, slightly.

"Bella," he whispered – though it was a lost cause; everyone in the room could still hear his exact words. "I vaguely remember something… something important. And I'm doing this… to… to see if I'm correct in my remembrance." Jasper swallowed, and I could see the blatant fear of what was about to possibly be discovered in Jasper's butterscotch eyes. I nodded to show my understanding, and then he took my hand, closing his eyes.

"Do it," he demanded. "Do it now."

With apprehension, I began to draw the strings of Jasper's long lost memories from the back of his mind, letting them cross before his and my vision. I watched as the luminous ribbons that I had retrieved swirled around us, blacking out the rest of the family, and setting us in a dark, cobblestone street, surrounded by horses and carriages and little cottages. The ground was wet, suggesting recent rainfall, and if it hadn't been for a few streetlamps that had not yet been put out, the street would have been completely black to a human's eye.

I felt inevitably out of place in this seventeenth-century setting with my tight fitting, Seven jeans and navy blue v-neck sweater. I looked around me, searching for Jasper – not the one that was holding my hand, but the one that was dressed with the time-period – and finding him in the last place I had expected him to be.

He looked the same – it would never cease to surprise me to see them looking exactly the same – except for his rather uncomfortable looking clothes and the fact that his hair was cropped shorter than the shaggy mop he seemed to have now and tucked under a black top hat that could put a magician's to shame. He was driving a carriage down the street, one of the only carriages that had not turned in for the night – it was late, and the cloudy night made it seem even dark than it would have been if the stars were able to shine through. Finally, the cabby Jasper slowed his horse, soothingly.

"Whoa, steady, Charlie!" he coaxed the stallion. I felt a pang at the name, and Jasper squeezed my hand reassuringly. "Alright, Mrs. Bradbury. You take care, tonight."

A woman stepped out of the cab and tried to hand Jasper some money. "No, no!" He held up his hand and shook his head. In a softer tone, he added, "I know Horace just lost his job. Times are hard enough as it is. You keep your money," he smiled, and it was easy to see that Jasper's good looks did not only come from his being a vampire – he was also a very becoming human.

"Oh, you must take it!" the woman insisted. "As you said, times are hard."

"Really, ma'am, keep your money. Suppose the taxes are raised again? You need it more than I do," Jasper enforced. His tone had a friendly finality to it – his persuasiveness was ominous.

The woman smiled gratefully. "Oh, bless your heart, Jasper," she cried, and with that she turned and disappeared into the house that they had stopped outside of.

Jasper waited until the door was locked before he clucked his tongue and pushed his horse into a slow trot down the deserted street. The only sound in the still air was the sound of the horse's hooves clattering on the cobbles. It was somewhat unsettling. As if the Jasper driving the cab had picked up on this disconcerting feeling, he began to whistle a happy tune – one that I'd once heard my mother play around my old house in Phoenix, though I couldn't place my finger on which one.

We moved with the scene as the carriage passed, and we followed it off of the main road and onto a dirt road. There was a considerable difference of atmosphere as the scene changed. This road was much more secluded, forest growing on either side, than the main road. There were no streetlamps, making the already black night merge to an even darker shade. The moment that the carriage's back wheels rolled off of the last of the cobblestones, Jasper urged the chestnut Clydesdale into a canter – he seemed to be aware of the eerie feeling that was hanging in the still air.

But even as the lope progressed to a gallop in Jasper's attempts to get home more quickly, a figure appeared at the shoulder of the deserted road, and cabdriver Jasper sighed, slowing the draft horse again.

"Whoa, Charlie, steady boy…" The horse's ears swiveled back and forth, and his eyes widened, showing a rim of white around their dark centers. The Clydesdale, Charlie, was utterly frantic with alarm. I looked at the face of the man standing on the shoulder of the road and stifled a gasp.

Charlie pranced to a halt in front of Conner Reddings.

"Evening, sir," Jasper greeted amiably, tipping the top hat that was resting on top of his golden hair. "Are you headed to town?"

I watched in complete horror as Conner twisted his red lips to the side in a terrifying attempt at a wry smile. "Not to town, no. I'm headed in your direction – to the village on the other side of the forest." I noted that Conner's eyes were pitch black and, yet, he was still managing to use that hypnotizing flair they seemed to possess in their bottomless pits.

"No," I whispered, unbelievingly. I looked to the Jasper standing next to me for reassurance. He narrowed his eyes at the memory that had flickered at my lack of concentration for one moment, and nodded stiffly.

"You must be mistaken, sir. There's no village on the other side of _these_ woods." The Jasper driving the cab was still genial as he disagreed politely, obviously not yet having made eye contact with his potential customer.

"It's slightly in the northeastern direction. I'll help direct you, if you like…"

It hit Jasper suddenly, cripplingly. The moment he looked into those eyes, those haunting eyes, he was done for. There was no fighting back now. And I watched with hatred - that could be my own or Jasper's - as he answered, unnecessarily, in a monotonous voice, "All right, then. Go ahead in."

"Why, thank you, cabby," Conner laughed, reaching up to pat the horse roughly on it's face. Charlie squealed and stamped his large hooves uncomfortably. Conner hissed at the beast, and it abruptly ceased its uneasy movements, though his nostrils were still flared and his eyes still wide.

"You know, it's not like me to _play_ with my food, normally. But, seeing as we're in no danger of being caught, well why not?" Conner laughed in his cruel, familiar voice. "Alright, turn into the trees and off of the road, there, cab driver."

Jasper complied and the carriage began to retreat into the woods, the lantern hanging on its hook swinging wildly as the wheels bumbled over uneven ground. An unknown force took Jasper and I along with the scene, and I watched in disgust as Conner made Jasper say foolish, crude, and profound things before the carriage came to a halt.

"All right, this seems to be far enough in…" and without another word, Conner stepped up to Jasper's side and sunk his bleach-white, razor-sharp teeth into Jasper's neck, sucking mouthfuls upon mouthfuls of blood out of his arteries.

I winced in horror at what was happening, unable to ascertain how Jasper could watch it unflinchingly. And then it came. The bloodcurdling shriek that emitted Jasper's lips could have woken the dead – no pun intended. He woke from the dreamy stupor that Conner had forced him into, and realized what was happening. The screaming didn't stop, and at the volume of it, Jasper's trusty horse whinnied and sped off through the trees. We, of course, followed the horrific memory.

Jasper tried and failed to remove Conner from him. I could see him getting weaker – see the light dying in his blue eyes. I bit my lip, feeling uncomfortable sharing such a memory as this one with Jasper. I kept my eyes on the happenings in front of me, however, and my eyes focused, just in time, on the carriage as it bumped over a fallen log and turned over.

The Jasper and Conner attachment flew at least ten feet in the air – Jasper still screaming in pain, as the venom was now spreading relentlessly to the rest of his bloodstream. Conner regained his poise and landed in a crouch on the squishy forest ground, but Jasper fell, conveniently, on his stomach on his horse's back. It seemed he had just enough strength to unhook Charlie's harness from the cab, and as soon as the horse was free, he galloped off through the trees, with Jasper barely clinging onto his withers. The present tense Jasper and I were floating after the horse, watching Conner Reddings fade into the distance. He seemed to think it was more trouble than it was worth to go after Jasper.

At some point, Jasper fell off of his horse's back, and we stood over him – watching him as he writhed in agony. I sighed, starting to release _my_ Jasper's hand, sure that the memory was over. But he clutched me more tightly and whispered, "Wait!"

I focused my vision on what Jasper was looking at. In the distance, there were figures – pale ones – moving at top speed through the dense forest. It seemed they were coming to investigate the screaming. I noticed that the memory was becoming blurry – this was because Jasper was becoming less of a human and more of a vampire, now. But I would have had to have been an imbecile not to recognize the flamboyant grace with which the approaching group moved and the piercing red eyes that shone through the haze of the memory. Excited murmurs were whispered around the small coven, and it was decided – once he was finished transforming, he would be one of them.

Finally, Jasper let go of my hand with unnecessary force and stomped away before the Cullens' living room had even come back into focus.

I looked around at the faces before me, wondering why _they_ were so astonished. They hadn't seen what we'd seen. It was no wonder why Jasper's human life had been such a blur – taking all of _that_ in, in less than a half-an-hour, no less, was bound to make details a little blurry.

"E- Edward could see it through Jasper's thoughts… H- he told us…" Alice gasped. Her expression was comprised of utmost torture. "Excuse me," she whispered, fleeing out of the room after Jasper.

I looked around the room at the somber faces around me, coming to a rest on Raychel's. There was something more than the sober bewilderment in her eyes, something bigger. Curiosity? I couldn't be sure – I wished Jasper were in a state to decipher it for me.

"I knew Conner," she said after a moment's silence. Six pairs of eyes focused immediately on her face – mine included. "He's dead – for real – now," she told us, as if we didn't know.

"We know," Emmett growled, and Raychel fixed her wide, delicate eyes on him. He seemed to grow uncomfortable under her stare, probably feeling fresh waves of guilt.

"You knew him, too? Do you know what happened to him?" she asked, the curiosity now lighting up every last detail of her features.

The only sound in the entire house for what seemed like eternity was the ticking of the grandfather clock.


	12. D E C I S I O N S

**This update is brought to you by Diet Coke and Reel Big Fish. XD**

**I went to their concert last night in Allentown - let's just say it was A-MAZE-ING. Ahhh, I love RBF. XD**

**So, the last chapter didn't get too many reviews. Okay, it got nine, and I'm just greedy. What was wrong with it? I want to make it better, so don't be afraid to flame if it was bad or something. I don't hate, I appreciate. Seriously. **

**So thanks to Edward-Addiction, Monkey-en-TuTu, BellyGnomes, Simply Kiwi [who gets a special shout out for the publicityyyyy ;), A Rose in the Night, quietandclear, HeartlessMagic, paypay07, and "bells". Muchos Grasias.**

**So, le song is Crying Shame by Muse.**

**And, as much as I hate to say it again, so soon, this story is drawing to a close. I can guarantee two more chapters and an epilogue. But that's all I can promise. I want to finish it before Eclipse comes out so I don't make an ass of myself writing some story that makes no sense. XP But I can tell you this much - a _lot_ is going to happen before the end. A _lot._**

**Sooooo... yeah. Chapitre Dix.**

**(I don't know why I'm speaking different languages today, so don't ask...)**

10. D E C I S I O N S

Finally, Carlisle spoke up. "How did you know Conner, Raychel?" he asked, his eyes cautious.

To my infinite relief, Raychel shrugged, an impassive expression coloring her face. "I met him in passing. I was hunting one day, and we came across each other. He seemed intrigued by me for some reason, and asked if I wanted to join his coven. I said no, of course, because of his diet. But he seemed nice enough." Edward and I exchanged a dark look. Nice wasn't exactly the word to describe Conner… "Apparently I was mistaken though. Poor Jasper…" her voice trailed off and her eyes hit the floor. After a moment of thoughtful silence she looked up again, her expressive eyes alight with curiosity. "_Do_ you know what happened to him, though? It's been the biggest topic of conversation for the past month! Nobody knows what happened…" Raychel's eyes were positively shining with the excitement she must've felt at being the one to unravel the mysteries.

"We know," Emmett growled again. Raychel's eyes dulled none, but she looked at Emmett with thousands of questions in her eyes.

"What happened?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

I took a deep breath. I might as well be the one to tell her… "Do you remember the story Jacob told you about the Reddings?" Raychel snapped her neck around so that she could look at me, a new kind of emotion creeping across her face. Awe? Fear? Realization? I could not tell. "Well, one of them was Conner and the other was his brother, Collin. They… they came for us. They wanted to force us to join some… some army they were making. But, for reasons unknown, their powers didn't affect me. So, in order to save my family, I poisoned them. I made Conner think it was some kind of… ability enhancing thing, and he ate one willingly. And then Collin was just stupid. I easily forced one into his mouth. But then, when Aro woke up from his trance, he wanted to retaliate and he wanted _me_ to help him.

"I didn't _want_ to go back to Volterra, though. It was the last thing I wanted to do, actually. But… Aro was… devious, to say the least. He, basically, tricked me into agreeing to go to Volterra with him. And I would have been done for if it hadn't been for Jacob." I smiled warmly at the thought. Jacob always came through for me. He truly was my best friend. "He put his power to use, and we were able to poison Aro the same way I poisoned the Reddings boys." I looked at her face again – it was most definitely awe that her facial expression showed. "It's nothing to be proud of," I mumbled, humbly. Any idiot with a flower could kill a vampire.

"So, you're, like, what? A genius?" she asked, her mouth twitching up into a revering smile.

I snorted. "Hardly. It's, surprisingly, not that hard to get a flower into a vampire's mouth."

This time Rosalie was the one who snorted. "Please, Bella," she said, rolling her eyes. "Your modesty is unnecessary. You know you saved us all with your cunning and quick thinking."

I could almost feel the ghost of a blush creeping up my neck. Almost.

"I didn't, though. If I hadn't had help, we would all be over in Volterra right now, doing God knows what." I shuddered at the thought. I tried to restrain myself from revisiting Volterra in my thoughts.

"Whatever, Bella," Alice smirked.

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she merely continued to smirk. "Anyway," I snapped, annoyed. "That's what happened to Conner."

"Wow," Raychel whispered. "I had no idea…"

"Neither did we."

"Well…" she paused. "I suppose it's a good thing I didn't join his coven." Raychel smiled, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Yes, that was a good thing," Carlisle nodded. "It showed good judgment of character on your part."

Raychel beamed at Carlisle's respecting tone. "Thank you." Her eyes flickered around the room, and it seemed as though she was realizing something for the first time. "Hey… where's Jacob? I haven't seen him since last night…"

She was right. I hadn't seen him since we'd returned from his house.

"Oh, he wanted to go hunting for animals, again. He was pretty sickened with himself for killing his father, and I think he wanted to blow off some steam," Emmett answered shrugging.

For the third time, Raychel's eyes flew to him, but this time there was fire under their innocent exterior. "And you let him go _alone?_" she accused angrily.

Emmett seemed to realize the error of his ways almost at once. "Oh… uh… yeah… I guess I shouldn't have let him go by himself…" he mumbled.

"You think?" Raychel snapped, leaping up from her place on the couch and heading toward the front door.

"Where are you going?" Esme asked.

"Well I have to go find him! He's in no state-of-mind to be off by himself!" Raychel was marching – there was no other word for the determined pace at which she strode – across the lawn, yelling over her shoulder through the whipping winds of the outside storm. The trees were practically being blown sideways with the force of the storm, and it looked as though it would pick Raychel right up off her feet and carry her away.

"Should one of us go with her?" Alice concernedly asked.

"I'll go," I said, standing from the couch.

"No, Bella. She'll be fine. You can't go out in this weather," Edward demanded, pulling me back down beside him on the couch.

"Edward!" I protested, squirming in his arms and trying to wriggle free and go after her, but he was too strong. After a moment of useless struggle, I went limp, giving up. I settled for glaring out the window at the hurricane outside.

"Trust me, Bella, she'll be just fine. She's lived on her own for over twenty years. She's a big girl – she can take care of herself." He was trying to soothe me, to comfort me about Raychel. But it wasn't only her I was worried about – Jacob was out there. Alone and fuming in bad weather. It was hazardous and I was worried about _him_ too.

"Just give them a little time, they'll be alright."

I couldn't push the sense of foreboding out of my mind, though. No matter which way I looked at it, there was reason for me to worry. Between the weather and Jacob's mood, Raychel could be done for out there on her own. With the way I'd last seen Jake, he'd been edgy – constantly angry with himself. If Raychel _did_ meet up with him… what if he transformed? What if he lost control and took a snap at Raychel? I'd seen Conner heal from the werewolf attack – but something told me that wasn't a thing that all vampires could do. It was probably just something that Conner was blessed with. No, something inside of me screamed that Raychel would die out there tonight. And I could not calm down.

I felt utterly useless, sitting there on the couch with Edward's grip of steel gluing me to his side. I hated feeling like this when I knew that I could help. If only I could escape – get away from Edward's constantly worried mind. I listened to the hours tick by on the old grandfather clock that stood, wisely in the foyer. It seemed like the seconds were going especially slowly in my anticipation for Jacob and Raychel's return. I let my thoughts run amok. My imagination went to wild conclusions as I thought of numerous worst-case scenarios. Jacob attacking Raychel and killing the one shot he had at true happiness and living with himself for eternity afterwards ended up being at the top of the list. I shuddered to think of what it would be like to live with a depressed werewolf.

I didn't realize there was a conversation going on around me until a key phrase caught my attention: "Jacob Black was a special werewolf."

I turned my attention to Carlisle at once, wishing I'd been listening to the preamble of the conversation.

"Do you have a theory about why he wasn't killed, Carlisle?" Edward asked curiously. Okay, at least I hadn't missed anything important.

Carlisle was contemplative for a moment before answering. "I do." I didn't miss the fact that his eyes flickered to my face. "I think that that night when the old pack attacked, I think that they all died because they were fighting for their treaty – their land, their honor. They weren't fighting us for a deeper reason than the protection of their pride. Jacob, however… I believe he had a deeper meaning for fighting that night.

"The amount of emotion that was pulsing through his veins made him seem like more of a human and less of a werewolf. Think of the humanity of those emotions – all centered around one thing… Bella." I returned my gaze to the window at once, embarrassed to look anyone in the eye – most of all Edward. "The anger, betrayal, fear, sadness, and, above all, the _love_. I've considered this theory with Jasper many times, and he concurs that on that night, at the moment that your teeth sunk into the Jacob wolf, he was… he was too… too _human_ to die. That may not make sense to you, but it is the best way to sum up my theory."

"No," Edward said quietly. "It makes perfect sense." I recognized a note of disdain in Edward's melodic, velvety-soft voice. "Bella," he murmured, turning to me. "Do you want to go to my room?" The question was almost pleading, and I could see a tinge of desperation in his angelic face.

"Sure," I mumbled back and he stood up and led me up the staircase to his ever so familiar room.

"Bella," he whispered as soon as he closed the door. "Bella, Alice's vision has not changed."

It took me a moment to let that piece of information sink in. "She still sees me being killed by a werewolf?" I whispered back, not quite sure why we were whispering.

Edward flinched at my words and gripped my hand more tightly in his. "Yes," he said with a stoic expression.

Fear consumed me, then, like I'd never been afraid in my life. "But… but the p-pack is _dead_," I insisted, stumbling over my words. "How is this _possible?_"

Edward's expression became even stonier, and even I could have predicted what the next words out of his mouth were going to be. "Perhaps, er, Jacob will lose control…" I glared at him, and he immediately looked sheepish. "It's not that I don't want to believe that Jacob's safe, Bella, I truly wish he was. But the fact of the matter is that he will never be safe. Not as long as his anger owns him."

"It doesn't," I cut in. "His anger doesn't own him. He can fight it off. He's done it before."

"But it's only to a certain extent that he can fight off the animal that he _is_, Bella. Alice saw it while she was comforting Jasper. You were telling Raychel about Conner, and the vision snapped to her mind, and, consequentially, it snapped to mine. Don't take this the wrong way, Bella. I really, truly have come to appreciate Jacob in this household – in this family, even. I _do_ appreciate that he looks out for you. But how far will he go to look out for you before you must look out for him?"

The cold words stung my still heart like a wasp stings a child. The relentless jabbing of the stinger makes the pain harder and harder to bear – I'd heard these words before. They'd been repeated again and again, and I'd all but become immune to them. But, now, for some reason, the words seemed to hold a different meaning. _How far will he go to look out for you before you must look out for him?_ Edward's disparaging words echoed in my thoughts, straightforward, unceasing, and unforgiving. And with a sinking, depressing weight in my heart, I realized he was right. If Jake was near me in wolf form – even if he'd morphed for the sake of me – it could be the end of me.

I'd known that dark decisions were lying ahead of me on this path I'd chosen to walk. I'd just always hoped that Jacob would be walking on the path with me, not suddenly becoming one of the dark decisions. But what could I do? I couldn't _not_ be his friend – and, yet, the continuation of my existence relied on me distancing myself from him. But if I told him this, wasn't it likely he'd explode into a wolf and kill me there?

If I didn't care to live or die, this would be a much easier decision to make. But I _did_ want to live – as pathetic an excuse for living that I was. I wanted to continue to exist with Edward by my side – for as long as I could manage. But if I disappeared without a trace, the guilt of abandoning Jacob would lie with me for the rest of eternity. I could not do it. I was not strong enough to turn my back on him.

"I can't leave, Edward." I finally whispered. "I can't leave him here."

I heard him sigh, heavily. "I cannot let you die, Bella."

I shook my head, "I won't die," I promised. I hoped I wouldn't break it.

I looked up from the floor to gaze into Edward's eternal eyes. His mouth was set in a hard line, and the topaz of his irises seemed to smolder a message – no, a guarantee – behind the words that followed. "I know. I'll kill him – for real this time – if he even gets close to killing you."

I felt the breath come out of me in one single _whoosh_. "D- don't. No, Edward. You can't." My mouth barely framed the words, but Edward's already somber face became even grimmer at my feeble protest.

"It's not something I look forward to doing, Bella. But when the time comes for Alice's vision to fulfill itself, I will be there, and he will die."

I felt a squeak emit from my throat, but that was all that came out as tears burned my eyes, asking for release. I couldn't bring myself to be angry at Edward's words – just sad. Somewhere deep inside of me – so deep that I didn't even realize it was in there at all – I knew that he had to do what he had to do to keep me with him. It still caught me off-guard. I didn't want to believe those words, but my intuition flickered, telling me that I must expect the unexpected. Anything could happen at any time.

I sighed, and nodded wearily, allowing Edward to wrap his arms around me. I blinked back the itching moisture that wanted so badly to escape my eyes. I had to be strong now, because it was only going to get harder.

I don't know how long I was standing there with Edward's arms pulling me into his chest, listening to the ghastly, howling sounds the wind was making against the house and the creaks of the trees as their trunks threatened to give in to the relentless winds of the storm. I don't know how I could have possibly blocked out the frantic voices that drifted up from downstairs – voices that made Edward tense and listen. I don't know how the numb feeling had taken over so quickly that I was already oblivious to the mayhem that seemed to be going on downstairs. I just know that suddenly, Raychel was in front of me, Edward holding me tightly to his side.

It was like waking up from a dream – at first all I saw was Raychel, her eyes frantic, her mouth moving so fast that it looked like it wasn't moving at all. Then I really started to register what was happening.

Her hair and clothes were soaked with the downpour that was pounding on the roof outside, and her eyes were more than frantic, they were hysterical. At first I thought she was crying, but then I realized that the droplets of water on her cheeks were from the rain – the storm crying the tears that she could not. In between panicked words, she was letting out enormous sobs that racked her whole body back and forth consistently. I couldn't even understand what she was saying – now that I _was_ paying attention – but I saw that she was clutching a piece of dampened, weathered paper in her hand as if her life depended on it.

As calmly as I could, I made her stop and start again. "Wait… slow down, Raychel, and start from the beginning. What's going on?"

Raychel took a deep, shuddering breath in, trying – and failing – to stop the sobbing. "Jake – he – I don't know – what happened – exactly, but – he's gone – Bella, he's – gone!"

"Gone? Where? Did he just _leave?_"

Raychel took another steadying breath, and seemed to be in more control as she continued. "I followed his scent – to where it was the strongest. But, when I got there, I didn't see anything, and I couldn't smell – him anymore. I found this tacked to – a tree trunk. It has your – name on it. It doesn't smell like – him though. So I don't think he wrote it…" She held out the piece of paper that was now wrinkled from her grip.

It was a sealed envelope with calligraphic handwriting. It did, indeed, say "Bella" on the front, though the blue ink was smudged from the rain. I looked to Edward's face, nothing but questions in my expression. He looked at me seriously for a moment before nodding towards the envelope. I looked at the unique writing again, bewildered as to whom it was from and what it was about. With shaking hands, I tore open the seal and pulled out a short, precise letter.


	13. F A T E

**Tomorrow? Ah, why not today?! XD**

**Well, here we are. Another chapter closer to the end. Sad? Quite. Exciting? Even more so than sad. ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED NEXT CHAPTER!!! XD**

**Dude. I'm a writing machine today. I wrote a whole ten page oneshot and this whole chapter, too. Jeeze, I'm on a roll. XD**

**So, this chapter was brought to you by Italian-swim-chick, paypay07, Badr, BellyGnomes, HeartlessMagic, Hello floor i'm bella, A Rose in the Night, SIMPLY KIWI!, passionate09, and Edward-Addiction.**

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False Pretense by Simply Kiwi  
Endless Night by your vennela  
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**ANNND! BAM! Chapter eleven. XD**

11. F A T E

The writing on the letter was in the same loopy, feminine script as on the envelope and, though the ink was smudged from the weather, it was perfectly legible. The legibility, however, took no horror away from the words coloring the parchment.

Isabella – 

_If you want to see your friend again, I suggest you make your way down to the night club "Rapture" in Seattle by midnight tonight. Come alone. Give the bouncer your name and he'll show you to a private room upstairs where I will be waiting. Don't act so surprised – I'm sure you've been expecting us!_

_Cheers!_

_The Reddings'_

I instantly regretted allowing Edward to read the note over my shoulder. There was no way on earth that he would let me go, but it was imperative that I face my fate. For one, this had gone on for far too long. I could not burden this family anymore with my mistakes. Second, they had Jacob. No matter what Alice had seen, I had to come through for him as he'd always come through for me. What kind of friend would I be to let the Reddings murder him? From what he'd told me about their coven, they weren't exactly big on second chances – and this would be his third.

The decision was obvious – I had to go face this coven. There was no more running – no more cat and mouse. This had to be settled once and for all, and I _would_ settle it.

"No, Bella."

I closed my eyes, exasperated, without turning around to face Edward. "'No' is not an option, Edward."

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped. "Of course it's an option. It's _the_ option. You will not go to that club."

It was one of those overwhelmingly many times that I was glad Edward could not decipher my thoughts as I silently conspired ways to escape the house.

"Bella," Edward growled.

"What?"

"Stop it. You can't go."

"Edward, what choice do I have? It won't matter if I don't go tonight! They'll continue to hunt me until they've gotten me _and_ the rest of you! Wouldn't it be better if I just saved the entire family the trouble and went down there myself?"

"No, it wouldn't be better." I turned to look at his face now, fixing upon mine an expression of pleading.

"Edward, I'm tired of being a burden. I have to face them sometime! Why not now? It's as good a time as any to fix this mess that I've created…"

"Burden? Are you insane? Bella, you're the best thing that's ever happened to this family!" I almost laughed at that.

"Yeah, getting you into all kinds of trouble with other covens and risking your lives on almost a daily basis is just _great_."

At my sarcasm, a shadow of a smirk played across Edward's face. "Well, let's just say our life was… _uneventful_ before you came into it."

"Edward," I sighed. "I'm tired of this. Remember almost thirteen years ago when _you_ told _me_ not to worry about anyone but myself while you went after James?" He winced at the memory, but nodded his head, solemnly. "Well it's my turn. Don't worry about anyone but yourself while I go after the Reddings, all right?" I thought I'd made a very good point, but Edward shook his head fiercely.

"It wasn't the same back then! The odds that I would come out alive were very good. I had Carlisle and Emmett by my side, and James was on his own. We weren't alone, and we were stronger than him. But they want you to go by yourself and who _knows_ how many of them there are?"

"Um…" came a soft voice. I turned my head to look at Raychel – I'd forgotten she was there. "Wh- what did the letter say?"

Without a word, I thrust the damp piece of paper at her face and turned back to Edward.

"I don't want to live the rest of eternity running from them."

"I don't want to live the rest of eternity without you!"

I groaned in frustration. How was I going to manage this? It was ascertained that I was going to go to this… _Rapture_ club. But how would I get out?

"They… They've got _Jacob?_" Raychel's soft voice was strained in horror. I nodded wearily. "No… NO! Edward, you've got to let her go! She has to save him!"

Edward seemed slightly taken aback at Raychel's direct address of him, but he shook his head stubbornly and I groaned again.

"He would have saved her." I felt the itching sensation, again, at the back of my eyes, but blinked rapidly, fighting the tears. Raychel's voice was thick with passion, and her eyes were shining their pleas at Edward. He looked at her for a moment, his brow furrowed in shock. Or perhaps it was confusion. I wasn't sure what exactly it was, but some unfitting emotion was coloring his face.

"I… can't… allow that," he said, his face still disturbed by unknown feelings.

And then, quiet, delicate little Raychel let out a mighty snarl, her face becoming a disarray of many different feelings. Anger, fear, determination… "Then I'll go my_self_."

"No, Raychel! They won't spare you!" I called out to her, but she was already dashing down the hallway. "Emmett, stop her!" I yelled into the house, and further hissing and snarling told me that he had done his job.

"Edward," I whispered, feeling the regret already. "This is bigger than me. I have to go… for everyone."

I looked up into his burning gaze, holding it for what seemed like hours. His eyes held a calculating expression. "We'll plan something."

I let out a gigantic sigh of relief – now we were getting somewhere!

I allowed Edward to lead me back down the stairs and into the living room. Jasper had returned to the room and was skulking in a corner and Emmett was holding a squirming Raychel hostage on the sofa.

"Raychel, it's okay. We're going to figure something out." She immediately stopped trying to wiggle free of Emmett's steely grip and looked at me, her eyes wide.

"Really?" I nodded and she sighed in relief. "But we can't mess this up!"

"I know," I stated, turning to Edward. "Every step of the plan is crucial, and we don't have much time. Let's get started."

"Right," Edward nodded. "Well you certainly can't go alone."

"But they can't catch me with you all, either."

"_Rapture_ is a nightclub, right? So we'll all dress for the scene and stay in the club area. You go up to the room and meet with the Reddings'. I'll give you _ten minutes_ before we ambush them, and I'll be listening very carefully to exactly what is happening. Nothing will go wrong." He seemed to be trying to reassure himself more than me.

It was such a simple plan, with so many flaws. "They'll know you're there with me."

"She's right, Edward…" Alice said, looking ahead. "I can't see much… just that this will not work…"

"Can you see how many of the Reddings there will be?" Edward asked anxiously before furrowing his brow and concentrating to look for himself.

"No. I can't see anything except…" her voice trailed and Edward promptly stopped concentrating on Alice's mind. I could only guess at what they'd seen… Edward swore quietly under his breath, but it was loud enough for Esme to scold him.

"Sorry…" he muttered distractedly.

"What if…" I started. "What if I went in alone? What if I left, and then, ten minutes later _you_ left, so that it would appear I was coming by myself and then you followed?" Edward considered it for a moment.

"I don't like the thought of not being there…"

"But, Edward, how else will this work? You can't just march into the club with me! They'll be watching for me…"

"Edward… this one's good." Alice told him, looking ahead again.

His expression became torn. His eyes flickered back and forth from my face to Alice's before he finally groaned. "All right. Ten minutes after, though."

I nodded. "Ten minutes. Now who's coming with us?"

"I am, of course," Alice chirped.

"As am I," Rosalie stood up.

"Hell yes!" Emmett released Raychel.

"Esme and I should stay here – it might look a little suspicious for us to go to a club." Carlisle said rationally.

"I'm coming." Jasper stepped out of his corner and took his place by Alice's side.

"Me, too!" Raychel leapt to her feet.

"And you know I'll be right behind you," Edward whispered in my ear.

I looked around at my family, feeling the tears start to well up in my eyes, again. "Thanks…" I whispered, and Edward squeezed my shoulder.

"Now we should take two cars and split up. Emmett and Rosalie – take the convertible. Raychel, Alice, Jasper, and I will take the Porsche. Bella, you take the Volvo." He fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them over to me. "Now let's get in… costume… and head out."

"Wait," I'd grown accustomed to her soft voice, but I couldn't help but feel a slight annoyance at it now that we were finally ready to get moving and she was interrupting. "What if… what if I go with Bella? No! Hear me out!" she said, as Edward was about to cut her off. "I'd go up with her until a couple of blocks away. That way, when the Reddings' are looking for her, they'll only see _her_ arriving – alone. But also, this way I can come just a _few_ minutes after she goes in and if she needs help – I'll be there!"

I could see Edward considering it. I liked that plan. It seemed… safer, somehow. Like back up wouldn't need to be waited for if something _did_ go horribly wrong.

"All right, Raychel. You go with Bella. Now, please, can we get ready?"

If it were under less serious circumstances, I would have said that preparing for this specific nightclub was unbelievably _fun._ Alice looked up _Rapture _on her laptop to find out more about the club. It turns out that it was more of a rave than a club. It was notorious for it's bad reputation. The mood setting was dismal, and everything was dark. The bouncer was actually given orders to turn those away that were not wearing black. And so Rosalie, Raychel, Alice, and I took a trip to Alice's closet to pick our wardrobe and then Rosalie's vanity mirror for make-up.

Almost an hour later, we were all ready. My hair was down and stick-straight and my eyes were caked with black mascara and eyeliner. I was wearing a leather mini-skirt that I'd borrowed from Alice, – and when I say mini, I mean _mini_ – a black tube top that cut off around my navel, and high-heeled knee-high boots. Raychel sported a similar outfit save for the tube top – she wore a black bra underneath a black, fishnet top and allowed her spiraling curls to hang loosely at her shoulders. Alice and Rosalie went with the leather pants approach, wearing black halter-tops and ponytails. I had to admit – we looked hot.

And so we descended the stairs to make sure the boys had not failed in achieving the gothic mood that was desired for those who entered _Rapture_. They didn't. It was pretty humorous, actually, seeing Jasper and Edward in tight, black jeans and snug black t-shirts. Emmett, however, took the cake in the hilarity department. He was also wearing a black, fishnet top over his bare skin, though it was loose around him.

I couldn't help it – I giggled. Alice and Rosalie joined in, also. Raychel was the only one too solemn to let a smile slip. I didn't blame her – she was the only one who didn't have her lover.

"All you guys need now is some make-up!" Rosalie cooed, reaching up towards Emmett's face – he flinched away at the last word.

"Ha, ha," he said sarcastically. "Are we going, or what?"

I nodded, the smile promptly vanishing from my face. "Stick together, guys. If anything happens to any of you, I won't ever forgive myself…"

Edward grinned at me crookedly. "We'll be fine, Bella. It's you we're worried about."

"Well, don't," I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck and gazing into the topaz perfection that was his eyes. "I'll be fine." He smiled again, but it wasn't so prominent as before.

"You better be. Or _I'll_ never forgive _my_self." There was only a slight pause in which we looked into each other's eyes, and then his lips met mine, the icy lust nearly scorching me. I knew we were headed into danger – but I refused to think of this as a farewell kiss. I would see him again. I had to.

But his lips were too hungry, too passionate for this to be just a regular kiss. And when he nudged my lips apart to let our tongues dance, I knew that he was considering the worst possible outcome. The vigorous fervor portrayed in his kiss was enough to unnerve me. I was now prepared for the worst. And if the worst was going to come, then I would never kiss Edward like that again. I gasped for breath as he pulled away, his cool hand resting on my cheek.

"You… know…" I managed between breaths. "If you kiss me like that more often… I'll turn right back into a human…" I said, referring to my constantly incomplete transformation.

He let out a breathless chuckle and held me to him tightly. "Good luck. I'll be right behind you."

I pulled from our embrace, looking meaningfully into his eyes. "I love you." I breathed.

His mouth twisted up into a wry smile and he tucked my unusually straight hair behind my ear. "I love you, too."

I kissed his hand and then turned toward Raychel. "Are you ready?" I asked her; still slightly breathless from the disconcerting kiss that Edward had just planted on me.

"I'm ready," she said, allowing me a slight smile.

We turned and sprinted out to the garage. Before her door had even closed completely, I was starting the Volvo. It still ran like new after all these years…

The CD in the stereo was one that was very mood fitting, and I wondered what Edward had been thinking about when he'd put it in there. I tried to lose myself to the pulsing beat of the bass, but my anxiety had reached a climax.

"You don't need to hunt, do you? We're going to be around a lot of people…" I looked at Raychel questioningly. I hadn't once seen her hunt since she'd been here – I wondered when she did it.

Predictably, she shook her head no. "I'm fine. What about you?"

It was my turn to refuse. "No, I got something with Edward the other day…"

The remainder of the car ride was silent. We were both too wrapped up in our thoughts of Jacob. It seemed to take excruciatingly long to get to Seattle. I watched nervously as the digital clock got closer and closer to midnight. It was at eleven thirty-five that I stopped three blocks away from the club and let Raychel out.

"Good luck!" she muttered as I sped off in the direction of _Rapture_.

Luck, I thought bleakly. Luck would be nice. But taking into account all that had happened to me in the last two months, luck was not on my side. Maybe this was just my karma for all those innocent people I'd killed. Maybe this was my punishment for giving into my monstrous nature. But why would karma drag my family into this? It wasn't destiny's place to hurt the Cullens or Jacob. How could this be fate if it was bringing the innocents into it?

I slammed on the breaks just in time to let the drunken pedestrians of the night run across the street. If I'd been human – I would have hit them. I made a right onto the street that _Rapture_ was on, and parked the Volvo, putting two quarters in the parking meter.

Unsurely, I got out of the car and brusquely strode toward the club. I cut the line – much to people's dismay – and gave my name to the bouncer. He checked something off on his clipboard and motioned for me to go in, telling me to take a sharp left and go up the stairs. Room six-zero-six. I swallowed, letting my knees wobble just a little bit. I couldn't fight the fear that was drenching me, now. But I could face it.

I stepped into the club.

It was nothing like I'd expected after what the website had described. There was a brightly lit dance floor, on which there were many people moshing to a song that was blaring out of the speakers. The music pulsed through the entire club, reverberating through my bones. The vibrations were so extreme it felt like adrenaline. The music was so unbelievably loud that my sensitive ears were ringing and it mixed with the beating of the thousands of hearts that were in the room. The smell of adrenaline, sweat, and human highs drifted up to me, tempting me to go down and drink from them, but I took the sharp left the bouncer had told me to and faced a narrow, metal staircase.

I took the stairs slowly, cautiously, making as little noise as possible. I walked down the small hall, studying the numbers on the doors as closely as possible, not daring to make a mistake for fear I would be too late. Finally, I stood outside of room six-oh-six.

I faced the door, unable to reach forward and turn the knob, unable to knock, unable to do anything but stare at the silver numbers on the black door. My watch beeped and I looked down. Midnight. I nearly laughed at the irony. I was in a black themed club at midnight. After all, what is midnight but the blackest time of day? The bleakest? No sun, no moon, no stars. The streetlights go out, and I am left in complete and total darkness, utterly alone. There was no light to give me hope, no moon, no stars, nothing. It is merely the time of day during which I fear there is nothing to live for. And no matter how hard I tried to believe differently, it didn't matter – I still felt hopeless. There was no remaining dogma in me that I could get out of this one alive.

I tried to compose myself – I could not go in and face my fate hopelessly. I had to picture some ray of light – something that could save me if I was in a tight spot. And then, as if my watch had read my mind, midnight passed. It was twelve-oh-one now. And Edward came to my mind. He would save me when I needed it – he always had, why would he quit now?

So I reached forward to turn the silver knob on the black door to face my fate. I just didn't realize fate had such a lovely face.


	14. A D A P T A T I O N S

**I know, I know! I'm sorry!**

**I didn't mean to take so long. I swear, I didn't. But... Harry Potter! The Deathly Hallows!! You have to understand, don't you? **

**Anyway. This chapter didn't take me too long to write because I already had it all up in my head, and some of it was on paper, too. So this is it. The big chapter. The preface chapter. And, I am pleased to announce, that there will be one more chapter before the Epilogue. XD**

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**You're enthusiasm is infectious.**

**The song for this chapter is Given Up by Linkin Park. That's the song I imagine blasting out of the speakers in the club.**

**And, so, without further distractions, the preface chapter. **

12. A D A P T A T I O N S

I thought I might be mistaken at first, that the wild fear and intoxicating scent and the pulsing beat of the nightclub had finally gotten to my head. As the door opened, I did not see some dark, looming figure as I had expected, nor did I see Jacob bound and gagged in a corner. Actually, what I saw made relief cascade over me in overpowering currents.

The room was small. It was obviously designed for couples that were going to get overly friendly out there on the dance floor to come into and keep themselves decent. It was a tiny cube with scarlet red walls and black lampshades. A large bed was pressed against the far wall and a small door to my left indicated a bathroom. But the person who had shocked me was sitting on the bed, her breath becoming raspier and shallower and faster with each passing moment.

"Raychel!" I exclaimed. "How did you get here before me? Oh, never mind, did you kill the Reddings guy? Is it over already?"

Raychel stopped her disoriented pattern of breathing and looked up at me with her wide, calculating eyes, a sinister gleam poking through the haze of glee that had overtaken them. "It's not over," she said, and I was utterly surprised to hear that her voice contained not it's usual musical, softness, but a hard edge and projection that was not, _could_ not be hers. "Not yet."

I stared at her, trying to make sense of what was going on. Was Raychel possessed with some mind control? Surely she was not acting of her own accord? As she studied my face, her vibrant, crimson lips twitched upward at the right in nearly a perfect imitation at Edward's crooked grin. I felt my throat tighten, realizing what I had walked into.

I searched for unfound words, not sure of what to say. When I finally did speak, my voice was but a mere whisper. "It was you."

And Raychel's red lips cracked over her teeth, taking form of a sincerely malicious grin.

"Good girl, Bella," Raychel cooed in the voice that was not hers. "Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I had expected you to figure it out _much_ sooner. Not here, on your deathbed." She had raised her body from the silky black sheets of the queen-size bed she'd been resting upon, and her boots clicked loudly on the linoleum floor. It was not loud enough to be heard anywhere else, though. Nothing would escape these walls to the ears of a bouncer through the roaring bass that was ripping out of the speakers.

"Now, Bella, as you know _I_ know, the others will be here in a few minutes time, and I simply cannot be here when they arrive. So, I'd like to get this show on the road." She stood a few feet away, now, her breathing returning to the raspy shallowness again.

"Wait! You… You have to answer my questions first, right? You can't kill me ignorant of this brilliant – _genius_, dare I say – ploy to kill me." I knew my words were coming out too strong, that she'd be able to tell that I was trying my hand at flattery, but it didn't matter. If I could get her to talk, to give me a few more minutes, maybe I had a chance.

She cocked her head, gazing at me. Her eyes had taken on a searching nature, and suddenly I felt very naked under her wide stare. "I can," she spoke at last, "and I will."

I raked my brain, desperate for any excuse. Just a few minutes, it was all I needed…

But what could I say that would stop this predator from attacking its quarry? The game was over, the jig was up, the cat had finally caught up with the mouse. There was nothing I could say that would stop this.

"What about Jacob?" I tried, in vain attempt, now. "Jasper said you loved him for _real_…"

It seemed I'd hit the nail on the head. Raychel's complacent expression faltered, and it was replaced by hesitation, insecurity, and when she spoke next, a bit of her softer voice had mingled into the harder one.

"Unforeseen complications…" she mumbled, almost unwillingly. "Nevertheless, it's not important now…"

She began to advance again. "It's everything now! Jacob's why I'm _here!_" I screeched. "What have you done to him? Where is he?"

And to my utter surprise, Raychel's face crumpled in agony. "I don't know!" she shouted. It seemed she was yelling at herself rather than me. "I looked for him everywhere! He wasn't out there, I couldn't find him!"

I couldn't remove my eyes from the tortured woman that stood in front of me. Why was she taking it so hard? She hadn't been able to find Jake, big deal. It made the whole taken-by-hostage lure much cleaner and easier for her.

"So you don't even have him?" I asked, relief sweeping over me, again.

Raychel looked up and seemed to regain her composure. "No," she said, straightening out her face. "No, it was a lie to get you to come here."

That was something else that was still a mystery to me. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, uncertainty mauling my voice. "Did you… did you find out about Emmett? Look, Raychel, we're really sorry it happened! He never meant to… to… well, you know. Emmett's a good guy, really. You just… so happened to be his _la tua cantante_. His singer. Your blood had an unexpected pull on him. He's always been an animal drinker, so he never would have done that if he could have controlled it…" I was rambling on now; desperate for a few more long minutes that Edward could save me in.

Surprising me, again, Raychel trilled a laugh that sounded like a measure of soft music in the rumbling guitars that were coming from the lower level, making the floor vibrate beneath my feet. "Oh, please. You think this is because of _that_ buffoon?" Her laughter was becoming more of a harsh bark and less like music. "I recognized who he was since the moment I set my eyes on him. No, Bella," Raychel sneered my name with uncharacteristic distaste, and her eyes narrowed to slits as she growled, "this is about _you._"

My confusion only mounted higher.

"I… don't… understand," was all that I could manage to get out. I beseeched her with my eyes to explain, and she sighed as if tired by my stupidity.

"Bella, do you know who Collin and Conner were?" Her voice had taken to a mocking tone now, falsely sweet and dripping with danger.

"Of course," I answered promptly. "They were the Reddings' coven."

She smiled with a mixture of honey and insolence. "Correct. Anything else?"

"That… they…" I raked my brain, searching for any information that I knew, "had powers over the mind… and they were building an army…"

"Were there any others in their coven? Hm?" she asked in that falsely sweet voice again, picking at something under her fingernail.

I could almost feel the blood drain from my face.

"You're… their…" I gasped.

"Sister," she sneered through gritted teeth. "Raychel Reddings, the only remaining member of the Reddings' coven. You killed my brothers, Bella. And for that, I must kill you."

I could do nothing but stare at her. Something more than fear started to bubble under the surface of my skin – betrayal. I had trusted her. Numerous times, I had been alone with her, inches away from death. I had stood up for her when Edward suspected her. I had become what I, roughly, called _friends_ with Raychel, and her intentions had been cruel all along.

"So everything you told me," I let the words come to my tongue, not thinking about what they were until they were already out of my mouth. "It was all a lie?"

"No, of course not. I merely told half-truths," she said dismissively, waving her hand as if it meant nothing to her.

"Your mother?" I gasped.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snarled, glaring. "Of course I didn't kill my own mother. She died of leukemia, just as I told you."

But that was not the direction I had meant to send the conversation in. "No… it… it _was_ you, killing the mothers in Forks? It was you, all along. Edward was right…"

The glare picked up off her face and she smiled benignly. "Oh," she giggled like a school girl talking to her crush, "that. Well, yes, I suppose I did kill them."

"Why?" I mouthed. "How? How were your eyes still topaz all the way through it?" Even now, on the edge of death, I had not failed to notice that her eyes still retained the amber color of all the civilized vampires.

"Well, I didn't drink them, of course," she rolled her eyes at my apparent incompetence. "I've told you, I've never drank a human's blood. But I've spilt it at my hand," her eyes were gleaming with malice.

When I spoke now, my voice was shaking not with fear, but with rage. "Why would you kill them," I started through clenched teeth, "if it was not to live off of them?"

And now Raychel's eyes took on a new kind of emotion. Not hatred, or anger. Not even grief. What I saw reflected through her wide eyes as she answered me was none other than pure insanity. "Why should those girls have a mother when I could not? Why should mere humans enjoy that luxury when I, _I_ the ultimate form of human, could not? They shouldn't. So I took it from them."

I began to realize just how much danger I was in.

"But how… how did you resist their blood? Once they were bleeding, how could you just walk away?" I was no expert, but I didn't think that Raychel Reddings possessed the same willpower as Carlisle Cullen.

The insanity and the twisted smile became more prominent on her face as Raychel answered, slowly. "Who said I had to do it in vampire form?"

And it struck me then as it had never stricken me before.

It had been _Raychel_ in Alice's vision, _Raychel_ who'd killed my father, _Raychel_ who had been the young werewolf that we smelt two unbelievably long weeks ago, sitting in Edward's bedroom, and it was _Raychel_ in front of me now, about to morph into her dogged form, and murder me with the same indifference as she had murdered those poor women in Forks.

But it struck me as odd. Jacob was the only vampire I knew that could change into a werewolf – how had Raychel pulled it off? And, what was more, how could she have been Emmett's singer if she was a werewolf? They smelled repulsive to our kind.

"How? How can you be a wolf? How is _Jake_ a wolf? How is all this possible?" The words came out in somewhat of a desperate tone as I searched for the answers I so strongly yearned.

Her expression became agitated as she answered. "Jacob died in werewolf form at the hand of a vampire while he was fighting for… for someone he loved. The… the emotion that was pulsing through him caused him to seem more human than wolf while the venom spread. His brothers died because they were fighting purely for themselves. Jacob was fighting for… _you._" It seemed to bother Raychel to say that, and I remembered what Jasper had told me – that Jacob still loved me more than her.

But, it had been proven to me tonight that Raychel's feelings about Jacob _were_ true. She had wailed at the prospect of his disappearance, but did not try harder to find him and actually take him hostage. She hadn't meant to fall in love, and it merely complicated things on her part.

"_I_ did not become a wolf until after my transformation – not until recently, actually," Raychel's voice began to grow in confidence. "You see, Bella, I have a very special power. An… adapting power, if you will. Once I kill, I can cling to certain characteristics of the thing I have killed and use them at my own free will. For example, I've taken the transforming characteristic and the characteristic in which Alice cannot see my future. That should explain her recent lack of surefire visions, should it not? I've been around and, because she cannot see me, her visions have been infected. As for your dear _Edward_, though, you are the only person whose mind he cannot read, correct?"

My expression was completely blank. I had listened in utter disbelief. How could anyone have such an evil yet useful power?

"And seeing as I could not kill you until now, I have had to block my thoughts with a mind numbing amount of effort. It's always a nice break to be out of his range," she sighed.

"And the army?" I immediately asked. "Why are you building an army?"

She looked at me skeptically, as if expecting me to say, "Just kidding!"

"Well, to overthrow the Volturi, of course. It's about time there's been a change over in Volterra. But, that has to wait. Vengeance is much more important. To me, at least. Now, Bella. Does that answer all of your questions?"

I froze. The time had come. There was no more stalling I could do, no more precious time to waste. It was now that I faced my impending doom with a strained face.

I had expected Edward to come. I had expected the door to burst open behind me and him to come in and help me rip this witch to shreds. And then, we could go back and live happily ever after, just the two of us. We would conquer all the evil that was thrown our way, and we'd always come out unscathed. That was how things should have been, how I'd always expected things to be.

But, now, as reality sunk in, I could see that I was closer to death than I'd been since I was human. There was no way to prevail, now. No confidence in me that I could make it out of this one _alive_. There was only one thing I was certain of – that it was too late. Edward's moment had passed, and he had not come. And now, as I watched Raychel's breathing pick up and her fingers start to twitch and tremble, I knew that it was my own fault for trusting her. My fault, for ripping any doubt out of my husband's head. My fault, for this. I had brought this upon myself.

The woman – if you could call her that – that stood in front of me was the very epitome of everything that I had come to hate. Not only was she a murderer, but she thoroughly enjoyed it. She wasn't like the rest of our kind, she didn't kill because she needed to, she killed because she _wanted_ to. She got off on the exhilaration, on the feel of the warm blood gushing over her sadistic hands. She stared at me from across the little room, panting hard. I wasn't sure why she was panting so hard; it wasn't as though she needed to breathe. Perhaps it was for effect. After all, she had raced against time and bent over backwards to get here when she said she would be here.

Her black eyes took in my carefully composed face and her red lips twisted to one side and her breathing came slower. She straightened her posture and flipped her long black curls over her shoulder. As much as I wanted to hate this woman, I simply could not force myself to do it. I wasn't sure why, as she was the quintessence of Hell, itself. Perhaps it was because she had wormed her way into my life long before I knew of her intentions here. If anything, I thought, that should make me hate her _more._ But I simply could not bring myself to the loathing that the creature before me deserved.

A single tear leaked out of my left eye as the click of her high-heeled boots alerted my subconscious mind that she was coming in for the kill.

With an earsplitting bang, she exploded from her small, black outfit and an enormous white wolf replaced Raychel's slight form. The size of the wolf was nothing new to me. Nor were the guttural snarls coming from deep within the beast's throat. Growling, the werewolf locked eyes with me, and I could see the resemblance of Raychel in them, just as I could see Jacob in his own wolf form.

A pang of regret twanged inside my chest as I realized I'd never asked Jacob why he'd turned silvery white instead of remaining his usual russet colored self when he was in the form of a wolf. I'd always figured it'd been because he'd changed – he was a vampire now – but how could I be sure?

The wolf that was Raychel let out one more snarl before leaping through the air, jaws aiming right for my face.


	15. T H E  B E G I N N I N G

**Sorry, guys. I don't know what's wrong with fanfiction, but I haven't deleted any chapters. So I don't understand why you can't get to them. I'm not getting e-mails for the reviews, either. So it must be an error on the website. It's annoying me a little bit...**

**Well, here we are. The inevitable end. I will not continue with this series, I'm sorry. Because Eclipse is coming out so soon, and this series may not work with that plot. I will probably start another story, though, after I've finished reading that. **

**I absolutely adore how much success this story has had. Almost two hundred reviews - that's really exciting for me! So thank you all so very, very much for your support. It means a lot.**

**Thank you so much Monkey-en-TuTu, i.love.oreos (and great job deciphering the plot! Kudos!), SIMPLY KIWI!, NotMixedEqually, Edward-Addiction, BellyGnomes, quietandclear, TwilightGirl93, Vampiratelvr, Italian-swim-chick, paypay07, Badr, and HeartlessMagic. You guys are "da bomb". XD**

**So, excluding the epilogue, this is my last installment of this series. Thanks so much to those of you who stuck with it all the way through since Moonrise! You guys are amazing, and I couldn't have done it without you!**

**The song is Feel by Sojurn. It's a good song, you should probably check it out. :)**

13. T H E B E G I N N I N G

Time seemed to have slowed down. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and everything that was happening was inexplicably clear. Raychel's dark, wolf eyes were staring straight at me with murder in their pits. As the silver furred dog's form grew closer and closer, I couldn't help but feel let down. If Edward were here, this wouldn't be the end. But he wasn't, and it was.

It had to be. Alice had seen it, and there was really no way that I could fight Raychel. Who knew what powers she was keeping a secret? Who knew how many vampires she'd killed and how many powers she'd taken? I was still half expecting the door behind me to fly open and Edward to rescue me when Raychel's saliva covered jaws were mere inches from my face. It was now or never, I decided. If I was going to go down, I wasn't going to do it without a fight.

No longer could I stand here acting as the damsel in distress. I had to fight back. I had to kill Raychel. And even as I thought it, I felt unexplained remorse. I didn't _want_ to kill her – she had been my friend. She had been the one to comfort me when Charlie died… but she had been the one to kill him. She had been the one to make Jacob smile _my_ smile – the first time he'd done so in who knows how many years? And now she was going to rip his heart out.

The pros and cons of killing her were still overwhelming me when her front paws hit me square in the chest, knocking me down to lay flat on my back. My head cracked into the floor, and I felt the wood splinter underneath the force of it. Raychel was still growling, her teeth snapping at my face. I didn't know what was holding her back; I didn't know why she hadn't proceeded to kill me yet. But then I saw it – my high-heeled foot was holding her away, extended from my body on her chest between her front legs. It had moved on instinct, and I decided to let these instincts win me now.

Bending my knee for more spring, I kicked the wolf away and sprang lithely to my feet, crouching in the fighting position. Raychel yelped as she hit the opposite wall, making a hole that she needed to scramble out of. I took my chance and advanced on her. I grabbed the wolf by the nape of her neck and swung her around in a circle. Letting go, I sent her flying, flinging her to the other side of the room.

Unfortunately, this was the side of the room that was facing the club and the hole that her body now made broke through to let the blaring music leak into my ears. I heard a bouncer on the other side of the building notice the flash of white wolf through the hole and talk into his radio.

"Something's going on in room six-oh-six, I'm gonna go check it out." Foolish man. I was in my fighting state of mind and there was a werewolf that was scuttling back into the room, now. If he came over here now, he would be dead within minutes. I was past control. Past bringing it back. I was my old, Manhattan self, now. And I could not be stopped.

Raychel clambered back into the room, her eyes filled with a new kind of hatred. Her snarls were becoming more and more bloodthirsty and her hackles were raised. She leapt through the air towards me, and before I could even think, her jaws had latched onto my left upper arm.

I'd never felt a pain so stabbing as my immortal self. I'd never felt the hot, piercing feeling of a werewolf's teeth sinking into my rock hard skin; never felt the contrast of their saliva and the blood that I had most recently sucked out of my prey. An inner battle started raging with the outer battle that I was now engaged in. With a scream of pain that I hadn't realized I let out, I reached over with my right arm and grabbed the first thing I could on the dog – her ear. It seemed I'd hit a sensitive spot, though. As I yanked, Raychel let out another yap of pain and released my left arm at once. I wasted no time in kicking the animal – if you could call her that – in its ribs and turning into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me for a moment to recuperate.

I could hear the barks and snarls and scratching as the wolf tried to make her way into the bathroom, but it was useless. That was something that was good about being in human form all the time – opposable thumbs. I turned the lock in the door and looked at my wound in the mirror.

My left arm hung limp at my side – useless, but hopefully only so for the time being. I hoped that it would come back one hundred percent in time. If I had time… Something black was seeping out of the wound – my last meal – and I could feel my thirst growing. As the life force leaked out, I grew hungrier and hungrier and I prayed that the bouncer did not show his face, here soon. I ran my arm under cool water from the faucet, but it did no good. I couldn't feel the temperature of the water, and it didn't bring any relief to the searing pain in the gash.

I was vaguely aware that Raychel had stopped trying to get into the bathroom, and then I realized why.

"Hey! What are you doin' in here?" came the deep voice of the bouncer. I wondered why he wasn't shrieking at the sight of the enormous wolf, but that wonder was shortly put to rest.

"My friend is in the bathroom," Raychel's soft voice was back – her fake voice, her innocent voice. This was the voice that I had become accustomed to – the voice with which Raychel had used when we were friends. And the mere sound of this voice was enough to bring me back a little bit, enough to tame the monster that had grown so quickly within me in the last fifteen minutes.

"What're you doin' to this room? You'll have to pay for repairs! Hey… What're you…" The bouncer's voice had become nervous – scared even. I wondered what Raychel was doing. I heard a short scuffle, and then a bang and a crash. Something heavy had fallen on the floor – I had a feeling it was the bouncer.

I decided I might as well go back out. There was nothing I could do for my arm in here, and maybe it would all be over soon… one way or the other. I turned the lock and opened the door to find the human Raychel – apparently naked – sitting on the bed with the black sheets wrapped around her pale skin. She was looking at the floor where the bouncer lay, dead, with a pool of blood coming from a lesion on his right temple and his left eye bruised as though he'd been hit.

"Shame," she said in her hard voice, again, and I felt the anger bubbling up beneath my skin. "If he had just turned around, I wouldn't have had to do that." My eyes were still trained on the man. I had just recognized him as Tyler Crowley – the boy who had almost hit me with his parent's van in my junior year at Forks High. It seemed Raychel had just punched him in the face and the force of it had made him fall over into the nightstand next to the bed, cutting his head on the corner. The scent of the blood was intoxicating.

I continued to stare at him, willing myself to leave it alone – I had come so far from that lifestyle, I needn't go back now. I swallowed and turned to Raychel. Her lips twitched upward into a kind of playful smile.

"Are we ready to proceed, then, Bella?" But even as she asked, she transformed into the wolf, again.

How long could I keep this up? How long could I hold her off? How long would it take Edward to get here? It had been well over ten minutes. I wondered if the bouncer had stopped them, but it wouldn't have made sense. Those guys were known for being bought off, and the Cullens had plenty of money to do such things as bribes. I backed away from the growling animal; feeling behind me for the doorknob, ready to flee.

How cowardly, I thought. Why should I run? Why couldn't I take her? Had it not been only a few hours before that I'd conceded to meet with the Reddings? It had, and now I was preparing to run. Running would solve nothing. Running away from Raychel would only cause her to follow. She'd said vengeance was the most important thing to her – so why wouldn't she continue to pursue me? This had to end, and it had to end _now_. It was her life or mine; it had come down to this, and I was sure that _my_ life would end up being the finish line.

I ceased my blind search for the doorknob and crouched to face her, my left arm still dangling pointlessly at my side. I bared my teeth and snarled, only to be answered by Raychel's earsplitting growls.

Time slowed down for a second time. Footsteps outside the door told me more bouncers were coming, but I didn't care. Let them see, perhaps then they will not disturb this final battle again. Raychel rocked back onto her haunches for more spring to her leap, and pushed off the floor. She would reach me in one, powerful bound and I would then test my strengths. But before she'd even totally left the ground, the door flew open behind me. Before I could turn to look, there was a loud bang and a second gigantic, silvery, white wolf was jumping gracefully over me, clearing my head with feet to spare. I watched as his gallant form drew and arc through the air and then met Raychel while they were both still airborne, pushing her back through the atmosphere – away from me.

Jacob.

I felt the fury slip straight off of my face as I watched the wolves fighting, jowls aquiver, snapping and growling at each other's faces. I wanted to scream in jubilance – he had come through for me! Jacob had rescued me, proven himself loyal to me, _again_. I wondered if Raychel would dare hurt him. I wondered if Jake had it in himself to kill her. And I wanted to get back in there, to help battle Raychel Reddings, but even as I watched, I lost track of which wolf was Raychel and which was Jacob. Both were the size of horses, both were silvery white, and both were biting every inch of the other they could find.

I felt hands on my shoulders, shaking them. I heard words, muffled by the silence that the slowing down of time had brought. I felt cool breath on my ear, and an enigmatically clear voice whispered, "Bella, we must leave."

I looked to my right to meet my knight in shining armor's eyes. He had come. He had been nearly too late, but he had come. I had known he would, there was really no question about it. I didn't know what had held him up, but the fact of the matter was – he was _here_. Saving me. I was still stuck in the parallel universe of slow motion as I stretched my neck up to meet his lips. I loved those lips. Those eyes. That voice. I could practically hear the fireworks as the kiss went on and on. I could still hear the barely audible voices, in the background, urging me to come away with them. But didn't they realize? I was stuck here, in this kiss – the kiss that meant I was saved.

And then, as if time had known exactly when to speed up, an earth-shattering screech broke through into my ears. I broke away from Edward's lips, turning my head to the sound. Raychel was in human form, her face distorted in agony, and Jacob's wolf form seemed to shudder and he quickly became Jacob again.

"Raychel?" His voice was strained with emotion. Hurt, betrayal, sadness, guilt… he grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped her indecent body in it, and it was only then that I saw her neck leaking black. "Raychel…" his voice was so pained it was almost tangible. "What are you doing here? What are you trying to do to Bella?"

Raychel moaned and reached up to clutch her throat. "I'm sorry, Jake," she rasped. "I never meant to hurt you…"

"But, Bella? Why are you trying to hurt Bella?"

The Cullens had stopped trying to move me for the time being, all eyes fixed on the couple.

"She killed them…" Raychel whispered. "Conner and Collin… they were all I had and SHE KILLED THEM!" She thrashed under the sheet in Jacob's arms, trying again to get at me.

I felt the guilt sweeping over me, now. I'd probably have reacted the same way if anyone ever hurt one of my brothers or sisters. But what else could I have done? They were going to take us to Volterra to make us fight against the Volturi. Under mind control, they wouldn't even have realized they were dead. I wanted to speak up and tell Raychel I was sorry, but I couldn't. The words were stuck in my throat and I didn't know if it was because I wouldn't _believe_ that I was sorry, or I simply could not speak.

Jacob looked down at Raychel for a minute before softly saying, "You had me." He walked over and set Raychel on the bed. He looked down at her for a moment before turning his back on her and walking over to the grouping around me.

Raychel shot straight up, grasping the sheet that was keeping her covered to her chest. Her eyes regained their wide innocence, and her lower lip began to quiver. She looked not at me, nor at any of the other Cullens. Her eyes were set on Jacob, fear transforming her entire self. "Jake… no… don't do this…"

But Jacob shook his head. "You tried to hurt Bella, Raych. How… how could you do that to me? You know how much I care about her…"

"I- I wasn't thinking about that… I was thinking about-"

"No. You weren't thinking. And that mistake could have ripped away one of the people I love." Jacob's voice was so lined with remorse that I felt my heart sinking a little more with every word.

"She took my _brothers_, Jacob. They… they were all I had…" Raychel repeated, her voice shaking with anguish.

It was time for me to make another decision. I was sure that if I gave Jacob the okay, he would return to Raychel's awaiting arms. But would Raychel's feelings towards me change? Would she feel repaid? I had taken her brothers, but if I gave her Jacob back, would she cease her quest for vengeance?

But then, if I _didn't_ tell Jacob to go back to her, her thoughts regarding me would _surely_ remain the same – bitter, vain, and in constant thirst for revenge. And Jacob would also maintain a moping nature around the house. Was I too selfish to allow my best friend to have true happiness? Was I that self-absorbed? He'd just saved my neck – again – and I was contemplating taking away the truest happiness there was from him? No matter what kind of monster Raychel was, it was an even bigger kind of evil to take true love away.

"Jake," I said, and seven pairs of eyes promptly shifted to study my face. "It's alright. Be with her."

"Bella, are you crazy? She just tried to kill you!"

But I shook my head. "Be with her. Be happy. It's okay, really. _Be with her_."

Raychel's sobs had stopped in disbelief at my words, but I was not looking at her. I turned to meet Jacob's smoldering gaze, trying to send the message through my face as well. He doubted that I would truly be okay with it, but he did want to be with her. I could see it in his face. I glared into his eyes. _It's be with her or kill her now_, I thought with all my might, hoping that then the message would get through. Jacob's currently amber eyes burned into mine for a moment longer before his handsome face cracked into a grin. I smiled back, standing up to hug him around the waist.

"You're sure, Bells?" he asked once more.

I growled, "Just get over there and sweep her off her feet."

He laughed and crossed the room to stand in front of Raychel, who looked utterly astonished at my generosity.

She stared at me from across the room, pure wonder replacing the manic look that had previously been there. "Why?" she asked, her voice soft again, and I felt the iciness that was left inside of me melt at the familiar sound.

I shrugged. "I didn't want to take _anything_ from you, let alone _everything_. I'm sorry about your brothers, Raychel, but… they were going to hurt _my_ family. And I couldn't let them do that." I looked in her eyes, my jaw clenched and eyes burning. She looked at me, still incredulous, for a moment before she seemed to understand.

"Sorry… about that… then…" she mumbled humbly. I didn't know why, but it just seemed so funny that after that whole struggle she was apologizing for trying to murder me. I tried to stifle the unfitting laughter, but it was just too much.

I couldn't help it, I chuckled. And once I had started to, Raychel began to giggle as well. And in that moment, we became friends again. Nothing that had just happened seemed to matter as we shared our moment of laughter.

Edward snaked an arm around my waist and pressed his lips to my ear. "You are incredibly amazing," he whispered.

I smiled and turned my head so that I could meet his lips. "Hardly," I muttered against them before crushing my own lips firmly to his mouth, letting our tongues frolic in the same heat of the kiss he'd given me before I left.

But this intimacy did not say good-bye. This kiss seemed to signify a new beginning rather than a possible end. This kiss, though our mouths were cold, took on a fiery nature, that was only a mere taste of what lay ahead in this eternal life of love.


	16. M O V I N G

**I know it's short. And I know it's not very good. But there were only so many ways that I could drag this one out. I'm sorry, guys. **

**The epilogue. The end! Oh, misery, please spare me! **

**Thank you all so, so, so much for the enthusiastic and encouraging reviews all the way through this! It means alot, especially from those of you who've stuck with me since the beginning of Moonrise! You guys are absolutely the best!**

**So a very special thank you to the following:  
Simply Kiwi, Edward-Addiction, HeartlessMagic, TwilightGirl93, quietandclear, i.love.oreos, not done baking, NotMixedEqually, Monkey-en-TuTu, ridiculouskopec, Hello floor i'm bella, and paypay07. I pretty much love you guys.**

**Simply Kiwi (Rachel) - Though I am very resentful towards you right now because you got Eclipse so soon, I still love you. Thank you for letting me use your name!**

**HeartlessMagic (Devi) - You've been an enthusiast since the very beginning! Thanks so much for your amazingly, awesomely, addicting words of encouragement! XD**

**You know what would be really, really awesome of you all?  
If you would go check out my new story, _Hero_. It's a crossover between Spider-Man and Twilight. But, just for the record, Edward's not _really_ going to be Spider-Man. He'll be a vampire. I didn't realize how confusing that might be. XP**

**So here's the very last piece of my stories. Thanks again, guys. You've been awesome.**

**X3 Mel **

E P I L O G U E – M O V I N G

I ran my hand over the wooden stair railing one last time, letting the grain of the wood pass beneath my fingertips as I descended the stairs for the last time. It was painful to break myself from the memories that this house held, but staying here was no longer an option. After the showdown last week at _Rapture_, it was risky to stay here any longer. Besides, I knew the only reason the Cullens hadn't already left this home was because they were waiting to see if I would return. Now that I had, there was no reason to remain in Forks, constantly living a lie.

Still, I would miss the small town. It was almost unbelievable that nearly thirteen years ago, now, I had dreaded coming to the place that soon became my home.

"Are you ready?"

I had heard Edward enter the house again, checking to see if I was coming. But I was still too wrapped up in my thoughts to continue walking. I looked up to meet his golden eyes. Sighing, I nodded. As long as those eyes were always close enough that I could look into them, I was ready for anything.

Edward smiled softly and walked over to me. "You'll get used to it. It was strange for me, too, the first time I had to move from my home. Leaving Chicago was like… leaving a part of me. But, it's not so bad, really. It's not as if we'll never be back here again. It will just be a while. Like a… a vacation."

I smiled, too, wrapping my arms around Edward's torso. "I know. I'll be fine. I kind of want to get away from _some_ memories. It's just… there was so much that happened to us here. It's not like a _chapter_ of my life, but a whole _book_. I'm gonna miss it, Edward."

I felt him press his lips to the top of my head before responding. "There's somewhere else we should go before we leave, Bella." I looked up at him curiously. I wondered if he would take me back to my old house. I wasn't so sure I wanted to go there with the most recent memory of a mauled Charlie on the floor, but I trusted Edward's judgment, too. If he thought I could handle it, I probably could.

Edward led me out of the house and began to make his way through the forest, grasping my hand tightly all the while. It was a treacherous walk, with many roots and stones that would have surely killed me had I been my clumsy, human self. But using some unnatural source of grace, I was able to walk through the woods without accidentally decapitating myself.

We were the only two yet to leave the house. Carlisle and Esme had left with Jacob and Raychel to get to the new place first. It was somewhere in northern Massachusetts – I wasn't positive where – and, from the sounds of it, it would be a lot like Forks had been. Small town, dreary weather, the works. Rosalie and Emmett had taken her convertible, then, and Alice drove Jasper in the Porsche. That left Edward and I and the Volvo to navigate our way across the country.

I was beginning to wonder where exactly we were going when I walked right into it. The meadow. The last place that had been on my mind.

"Now, I know this place may not hold the same value of sentiment for you as it does me, but _I_ at least wanted to see it one more time," explained Edward, sparkling from his smile to his skin.

"Oh, Edward," I gasped, gazing around at the colorful wildflowers and the swaying grass. "Of course I wanted to see it again!" He smiled at me crookedly and reached his hand up to sweep my windblown hair out of my face.

The last time I had been to this meadow – excluding the time that Laurent nearly killed me – I had been limited by my humanity at what Edward and I could do. Now, however, the _sky_ was the limit.

Without giving it a second thought, I threw my arms around Edward's neck and jumped so that I could lock my legs around his middle. Edward, seeming taken aback by my boldness, grabbed my thighs to hold me there and chuckled quietly.

"That was spontaneous," he teased.

I merely smiled, biting my lip. "What can I say? After the past two months, I've become a spontaneous kind of gal."

Edward chuckled again before kissing my forehead, cheeks, the tip of my nose, and, finally, my lips. I didn't know how long we were kissing, and I didn't know how we'd gone from standing to sitting in the grass, letting the damp earth stain our clothes with water. But suddenly, the sun was setting and we had to trudge back through the forest, get in the Volvo, and make our way over to the-middle-of-nowhere Massachusetts.

I watched the scenery fly by my window with vague interest. The car was moving much too fast, and I was becoming dizzy from a mixture of the trees whizzing past and the feel of Edward's hand on mine.

It was as if the passing trees and city skylines were already a distant past, a different story of my life. It seemed like the memories were already fading, making room in my cluttered mind for new ones in a new town. I wondered if we would go to high school again in Massachusetts. I wondered if the rest of the family was worried about me being around humans. I wondered if Jacob and Raychel would come with us, and how much the gossip of our already scandalous family would increase.

Edward began to hum a song that was playing on the radio, and I decided not to worry about what the future would bring. I wouldn't worry about anything except the moment I was in, because as long as Edward was here with me, I could handle anything that life threw at me.

I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder and looking out into the blackness of the night around me. I glanced at the clock just in time to see it change from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am. Midnight, again. But this time, it didn't seem so hopeless. The once engulfing black night did not overwhelm me as it had so recently. The darkness took on a new meaning, for me, at least. Because even in the darkest night imaginable, there was always a light somewhere. Whether it be the moon, the stars, or even a streetlight, there was always some light. I just had to look.

And midnight was no longer as intimidating as I had once found it. Edward's thumb stroked my hand lovingly, and I could have overcome anything, as long as he was with me – my light in the darkness.


	17. Advertising  XD

You know, this is still getting reviews?

That's pretty crazy. XD

I just wanted to put up a little advertisement for a few stories that I've really been enjoying. One, of course, is my own _Hero_. I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who would go and read and review that.

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and  
_Glorious Dawn_ by your vennela.

Also, I've started a joint account with Vennela and we're writing a story together. So keep a look out for "your reason". I'm pretty sure the story will be called something along the lines of "Apocalypse".

Thanks so much, guys, for making this story such a success.

Now go do the same thing for those stories! XD

Love,  
--Mel


	18. Goodbye to You

Hello, anyone who's reading.

I have come to say an official farewell. Twilight Fanfiction was my world for a good amount of time. I gathered fans and readers and a lot of positive feedback, and it was an eye opener for me. Because of this website and Twilight in general, I know now that I want to be a writer. In the fall, I will be attending Susquehanna University as a creative writing major - pursuing my dreams, something I never thought I'd end up doing. There will always, always be a special place in my heart for Twilight, but it's been time to move on...for a long time. I will not be completing Hero or What Would the Neighbors Think? because I do not have enough interest in them anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and everyone has been incredibly kind. My sincerest thanks to all of you - without your eager reviews, who knows where I'd be? I will still read fanfiction and review your stories, but updating (as you may have noticed) will not be happening anymore.

If you are ever in the mood to say hello or even if you liked my writing enough (which is hard to believe, haha. Looking back on these stories is a trip - they're _absurd!_) I ask you to swing by my FictionPress account or my Mibba account. If you get to know me, I may even offer my MySpace URL. For now, though, I ask you look at my bio for the links to the websites where I will post my original works.

Thank you again, everyone. It's been so fun.

I adore you all,  
Mel.


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